Tommy Mellon
with some thoughts on the Bobby Sands comm expressing a wish not to be buried in Milltown or in a shroud. 

Unlike different claims in the past that cannot be verified, this claim can easily be put to rest by producing the actual unredacted comm.

Pat Finucane is no longer alive so cannot tell what he knows - the only actual proof is the comm.

My first thought when reading the typed copy of the comm and hearing the SF response was why the sudden change of mind?

The man by all accounts was meticulous and there is more than ample evidence of this from his writings and other comms and conversations with other blanket men.

He thought everything through to allow for all eventualities. Like a lot of people, he believed in the republican leadership and that they would honor his last wishes. It looks like that belief was betrayed and his funeral was used as a huge propaganda tool.

I do not know if Adams and his kitchen cabinet would have had the electoral ambitions then at the time of Bobby’s death as they did in later years. But if they went against his wishes for electoral benefit, to me, it is near the top of all the other things that they have done since.

Maybe Bobby did change his mind, but as pointed out he spoke and wrote of Ballina often and his wish to be buried there even after March 9th.

Again, he was meticulous in his planning. Why the change of heart between February and March 9th on the site of his burial?

Why is the topic of being buried in a blanket and not a shroud or suit never discussed again?

As for the Morrison statement that the others apart from Kevin Lynch were buried in republican plots with republican funerals, they could have buried Bobby Sands in the middle of a field in the Mourne mountains and it automatically becomes a republican grave.

They have no right or justification to keep the contents of the comm a secret anymore. The least they could do is have the comm examined to verify its authenticity and its contents.

It's insulting to his family not to know the truth.

If Michelle O’Neill thinks its crass for a family to know the truth about their loved ones last wishes then she is crass and does not understand the definition of crass which is lacking sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence.

The Sands family deserve the truth - release the comm and give them peace of mind.

Tommy Mellon is from a family with a long history of Republican and GAA involvement in Derry.

Comms Should No Longer Be Secret

Tommy Mellon
with some thoughts on the Bobby Sands comm expressing a wish not to be buried in Milltown or in a shroud. 

Unlike different claims in the past that cannot be verified, this claim can easily be put to rest by producing the actual unredacted comm.

Pat Finucane is no longer alive so cannot tell what he knows - the only actual proof is the comm.

My first thought when reading the typed copy of the comm and hearing the SF response was why the sudden change of mind?

The man by all accounts was meticulous and there is more than ample evidence of this from his writings and other comms and conversations with other blanket men.

He thought everything through to allow for all eventualities. Like a lot of people, he believed in the republican leadership and that they would honor his last wishes. It looks like that belief was betrayed and his funeral was used as a huge propaganda tool.

I do not know if Adams and his kitchen cabinet would have had the electoral ambitions then at the time of Bobby’s death as they did in later years. But if they went against his wishes for electoral benefit, to me, it is near the top of all the other things that they have done since.

Maybe Bobby did change his mind, but as pointed out he spoke and wrote of Ballina often and his wish to be buried there even after March 9th.

Again, he was meticulous in his planning. Why the change of heart between February and March 9th on the site of his burial?

Why is the topic of being buried in a blanket and not a shroud or suit never discussed again?

As for the Morrison statement that the others apart from Kevin Lynch were buried in republican plots with republican funerals, they could have buried Bobby Sands in the middle of a field in the Mourne mountains and it automatically becomes a republican grave.

They have no right or justification to keep the contents of the comm a secret anymore. The least they could do is have the comm examined to verify its authenticity and its contents.

It's insulting to his family not to know the truth.

If Michelle O’Neill thinks its crass for a family to know the truth about their loved ones last wishes then she is crass and does not understand the definition of crass which is lacking sensitivity, refinement, or intelligence.

The Sands family deserve the truth - release the comm and give them peace of mind.

Tommy Mellon is from a family with a long history of Republican and GAA involvement in Derry.

10 comments:

  1. Tommy - thanks for putting this out with TPQ.
    There is no reason not to publish the unredacted comms from Bobby Sands.
    If people think there is a reason then they should spell it out.
    I am sure they will get a hearing.

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  2. I agree 100%, nothing to hide at this point

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  3. Milltown is a special place for me.
    To walk around and see the names and often circumstances of our martyrs to our just cause was very special for me BUT Bobby specifically asked not to be buried there, for his own reasons.
    Surely he could have been afforded that last wish?
    For pities sake, he saw the hunger strike through for over two punishingly long months.
    Anyone involved with denying him those humble requests was no comrade.

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  4. I can't get to grips with this at all..honouring someone's last wishes are the last thing you can do for someone never mind the circumstances of his death i genuinely hope that he did change his mind in the weeks leading to his eternal reward and the comm will be produced to prove it but going by Bobby's poems and the undertones in ten men dead and an unfinished song not to mention his meticulous nature it would seem he thought of every outcome if this matter goes unresolved it will cause an even bigger rift in the republican movement than the brits will be full of glee,and his family deserves to know the truth

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  5. Unknown - if your comment is for publication please sign off on it.

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  6. Martin Hurson was the eighth hunger strikers having taken then place of Brendan McLaughlin.Kevin lynch comm with a rundown of his life is dated 2-5-81 Keiran Doherty's comm dated 20-5-81 both commencing hunger strike before Martin Hurson.Strangley thou Martin Hursons comm is dated 20-3-81 which is before Raymond and Patsy start there hunger strike it's before thoughts of extending strike how can this be.In it it says sent you out few details yesterday Thursday 19th and funny the dates match.So if they can manipulate the Comms to suit there agenda which Comms can anyone truly trust

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  7. Another comm that seems to have been manipulated 8th July comm from bik to Brownie the day Joe McDonnell died he explaining first time he had met him Saturday past and how all hunger strikers were there it then says that was Sunday evening yet in comm on Monday 6th in comm bik says oh by the way Joe was unable to attend last night's session.Might not mean much but they are contridicting

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  8. "Pat Finucane is no longer alive so cannot tell what he knows - the only actual proof is the comm."

    Why would Finucane know anything? Was he acting as a runner between the prisoners and those outside?

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  9. Neither are the ten martyrs so whatever they were told or not we only have Comms that can be rewritten redacted signed or dated and your just meant to believe as truth no questions asked.But when R O R started questioning their version of the truth bit by bit it's crumbling.Danny Morrison is author of ten men dead he has written story Beresford inserted the Comms.There one comm with no name or date from Marcella answer why it was addressed to Morrison and the answer is in the comm when Marcella talking about getting lifted says I wrote about it to you for paper.Who was editor pennies.Every time Joe McDonnell death he is ask about he always changes subject to Norah McCabe getting killed by plastic bullet.Another Gerry Adams was commander of Belfast Brigade or so the press said that was a good one just like bomb and ballot box.Thinks people are idiots and he could write what he wants.As for being a so called republican version of hunger strikes theres very little sympathy for any martyr in fact there is a lot of sly remarks concerning them.But British dead are made to be family men and not the butcher's they were.

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  10. Bernadette mcaliskey got 34000 votes standing as independent Republican 1979 European election standing on the prisoners issue and with out the help of Sinn Fein it opened there eyes to what the prisoners nightmare could bring them mainstream.That was November 79 then you have the strange happenings on 1980 January IRA announce screws would no longer be targets.Then you have the executions off leading members off IRSP but who also happen to be leading members off Smash h. Blocks Armagh commitee with excuse it was for assassination for airey neave Thatcher's payback.Page 209 ten men dead the INLA were problem for IRA both military and politically.If one takes that the 1980 hunger strike was planned as so Volunteers died then the same cabal that shafted the 2nd hunger strikers you can bet your life they would have been standing in the 1981 council elections.Sinn Fein had as much a reason to want the IRSP political thinkers out of the way as much as Thatcher even more so only room for one Republican party in the north.As for Thatcher and revenge one would think that the Brighton Bombers would have been given the attention of her butcher's SAS.

    ReplyDelete