Angela Gallagherrecalls the night she was shot in Belfast. 

After watching the TV documentary about Peter Heathwood on Thursday night I really do think it was horrific what happened to him, his daddy and wife Ann, whom I knew from living in the Ormeau Road.

I thought Peter spoke extremely well - and the way he remembered every detail. And as he is such a high profile figure in the Victims' movement, he is able to help the thousands of others to step up and maybe, after listening to him, allow them to tell their own story.

He certainly has made me think of myself as I am also a victim.

I was at my place of work back in 1975. It was Halloween and a friend had called in. Being only 18 at the time, we were talking about going to a disco later that night in the local hall.

As we stood talking, a fella came in, pointed at me and told me to go into the back store. He followed me in. He told me to lie down. After a few minutes which seemed like an hour - as you can imagine, everything was racing through my head - he then shot me in both legs and ran out.

I tried to crawl back into the shop. I felt I was on fire. I screamed to my friend for a drink of water, but God help her. She was hysterical. Luckily there was a chemist's shop next store and the pharmacist ran in. But as the blood was gushing like a fountain from my legs, he slipped and fell flat on his back.

By the time the ambulance arrived my daddy who had been on his way to see me, instead ended up in the ambulance with me. He could not stop being sick and vomited up all over the back of the ambulance, while at the same time trying to hold my hand.

Like Peter, I still suffer today from my injuries. Now that Peter has instilled the courage in me to come forward, just as he has, I hope that the stories of all the victims will be told in the future.

I would like to meet up with Peter as there are so many questions I need to ask him.
 

Angela Gallagher was shot and wounded in Belfast almost 50 years ago. 

I Felt I Was on Fire

Angela Gallagherrecalls the night she was shot in Belfast. 

After watching the TV documentary about Peter Heathwood on Thursday night I really do think it was horrific what happened to him, his daddy and wife Ann, whom I knew from living in the Ormeau Road.

I thought Peter spoke extremely well - and the way he remembered every detail. And as he is such a high profile figure in the Victims' movement, he is able to help the thousands of others to step up and maybe, after listening to him, allow them to tell their own story.

He certainly has made me think of myself as I am also a victim.

I was at my place of work back in 1975. It was Halloween and a friend had called in. Being only 18 at the time, we were talking about going to a disco later that night in the local hall.

As we stood talking, a fella came in, pointed at me and told me to go into the back store. He followed me in. He told me to lie down. After a few minutes which seemed like an hour - as you can imagine, everything was racing through my head - he then shot me in both legs and ran out.

I tried to crawl back into the shop. I felt I was on fire. I screamed to my friend for a drink of water, but God help her. She was hysterical. Luckily there was a chemist's shop next store and the pharmacist ran in. But as the blood was gushing like a fountain from my legs, he slipped and fell flat on his back.

By the time the ambulance arrived my daddy who had been on his way to see me, instead ended up in the ambulance with me. He could not stop being sick and vomited up all over the back of the ambulance, while at the same time trying to hold my hand.

Like Peter, I still suffer today from my injuries. Now that Peter has instilled the courage in me to come forward, just as he has, I hope that the stories of all the victims will be told in the future.

I would like to meet up with Peter as there are so many questions I need to ask him.
 

Angela Gallagher was shot and wounded in Belfast almost 50 years ago. 

3 comments:

  1. Angela - this is a very moving piece.

    I remember you being shot and then visiting you in the hospital, later venturing into a loyalist area to get you a crutch from a hospital supply facility there.

    I also remember Peter getting shot but as I was on the blanket at the time the details were sketchy. It was much later that I learned of the appalling cost to him and his family.

    I would hate to see the pain you both underwent being inflicted on anyone else. Yet back in the day I was more than willing to inflict it and did so. For youth it is about fashion - and empathy is never fashionable at such a young age. Now, I think we cannot be so limited in our imagination that we should think killing or injuring people is a good solution to any problem.

    I am not in the slightest religious but I think there is a lot in what was said by the murdered theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer: We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. I feel embarrassed talking about suffering when considering what you both endured.

    I would love to be able to reach that Bonhoeffer ground and stand firmly upon it. It would be a worthwhile achievement. A failure to do so creates situations in which what happened to you and Peter becomes much easier to take place. The decisions we make in a second, minute, hour, day have life long and often horrendous consequences for others including family. Your dad was physically sick when he saw you; Peter's dad died from a heart attack when he saw his son. The balance sheet in terms of suffering is always in the red and it will never make the black.

    I have not seen either you or Peter in decades. This piece compels me to think of what life has been like for both of you during that time. It has been pain sailing not plain sailing.

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  2. Very stark and frightening testimony, Angela. Nobody should ever had to go through and countless thousands victims have endured.

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