It was an honour to be in the Rathmor Centre last night as our comrade Séamus Kearney told of his life's journey.
A journey during which death as an IRA volunteer was a risk he willingly took in pursuit of Irish freedom.
The years of captivity within the concrete walls of the hell known as the H-Blocks.
Of finding out that his young brother, Michael was executed as an informer.
How he refused to let it break him and so he struggled on with his comrades, the Blanketmen and Women of the H-Blocks and Armagh Gaol until the very end when the selfless sacrifice of ten brave men brought about victory.
Even after he walked through the gates of Long Kesh, Seamus was still not free. Not while the innocence or guilt of his brother Michael needed to be proven. Not while the burden of his mother's plea to find the truth hung heavy on his shoulders.
His journey was a difficult one with many hurdles placed in his way.
But he overcame them and finally dragged the truth of his brother's innocence from those who had tried hard to conceal it.
Seamus gave Michael back his honour as an IRA volunteer and in doing so he also freed his gentle mother's soul so that she could die in peace.
But as he was to discover, those who finally told Seamus the truth about his brother's innocence still lied about the traitor Scappaticci who had taken his young life at the behest of his British handlers.
'He was innocent until proven guilty' they had told him, even though Volunteer Michael Kearney was denied the chance to prove his own innocence before three bullets took his young life.
This so called innocent man, Scappaticci, whom they had so rigorously defended finally proved his own guilt when he let his handlers spirit him away.
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Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman. Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie |
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