"The Claudy Day Massacre" - Bloody Monday
31st July 1972 - 9 people dead - 'Read below'

A local person said " the Provos were responsible for the killings, sure even the dogs' on the street know they are responsible".

The first person to die, on what became known as Bloody Monday, was eight-year-old Kathryn Eakin .

She was killed when the first bomb exploded outside McElhinney's Pub at Main Street at 10.15am. Kathryn was struck by shrapnel as she helped out at her father's grocery shop.

On the right is a picture of Kathryn Eakin's headstone she was only eight years of age.

Panic-stricken people ran from the scene only to be caught in blasts from two other explosions, at Claudy post office and the Beaufort House hotel, which claimed the lives of a housewife and four other men.

In the following week, three other people died as a result of their injuries.

The Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein victims where as follows:-

Joseph McCluskey 39 yrs Catholic Civilian
Kathryn Eakin 9 yr old child Protestant Civilian
David Miller 60 yrs Protestant Civilian
James McLelland 65 yrs Protestant Civilian
William Temple 16 yrs old Protestant Civilian
Elizabeth McElhinney 59 yrs Catholic Civilain
Rose McLaughlin 51 yrs
Patrick Connolly
Arthur Hone

While the names of the dead fast flowed into the bottomless depths of Northern Ireland Troubles' statistics, each name carried a story of courage, youth and family. David Miller, a road worker, was caught in the second bomb as he helped carry the injured victims from the scene of the first bomb.

Liz McElhinney was serving petrol at the family-run pub and petrol station when she took the full force of the first bomb and died instantly.

Willie Temple, who lived at nearby Donemana, had just finished talking to Ernie Hamilton - now a Derry Ulster Unionist councillor - and was continuing his milk-round when he was caught in the third bomb.

Each death shattered the normality of everyday life in Claudy. The bombs were no respecters of religion, killing five Catholics and four Protestants.

Mary Hamilton who, with her husband, owned the Beaufort House hotel, has no doubt about the reasons for the bomb. "I think it was the IRA. They planted bombs outside Eakin's shop, the post office and our hotel. Those were three prominent Protestant businesses in the town. "But they denied it because they were afraid of the number of Catholics who had been killed," she said.

The Claudy hotelier, who now lives in Londonderry, said she had vivid memories of the day. She had just stopped work for a cup of coffee with a friend, Annie Miller when the bombs started exploding. After the bomb at her hotel, the two women ran outside to find Annie's husband's horribly mutilated body lying dead. "The only way Mrs Miller could identify him was by the buttons she had sewn on his coat that morning," she recalled.

Mrs Hamilton believes both she and her husband are survivors of a bomb attempt on their lives. It was only the fact what the car bomb outside their hotel was placed over a drain which absorbed the impact of the explosion which saved their lives. "The scene was horrible. I can remember it as clear today as it was 25 years ago. There were mutilated bodies lying everywhere on the street. "The second bomb, outside the hotel, caught many of the wounded who were making their way to the health centre." For Patricia Byrne, nee McLaughlin, the memories are equally vivid. With her seven brothers and sisters, she rushed to their parents' Main Street cafe to find their mother, Rose lying injured on the floor and her father, James standing in shock behind the counter. "Dad was at the counter and mum was talking to a customer by the window when the bomb went off. The other lady escaped unhurt," Patricia recalled.

In the days after the bombing, the McLaughlin family did not think their mother was going to die. Lying in Londonderry's Altnagelvin hospital, the only physical indication of her injury was a cut on her head. But the McLaughlin children did not know until later that a piece of shrapnel had embedded in their mother's head and she died on Thursday. The effect of the Claudy bombing on the McLaughlin family was immediate. The family business, which should have provided employment to the entire family, was destroyed never to be re-opened. The death of her mother also had a traumatic effect on Patricia's father, James. He suffered from depression for the rest of his life until he died in April of this year. "My mother was a business woman and was very strong-willed. She ran everything. When she died everything went."

Patricia, who now lives in Limerick, said the fact that no-one was ever brought to justice for the bombing made it more difficult for people to get over the tragic murders. There was no conclusion.

No-one has ever claimed responsibility for the Claudy bombing. The British government of the time, under Sir Edward Heath, moved quickly to blame the Provisional IRA.

Poet James Simmons writing of the bombing in Claudy which killed nine people including Elizabeth McElhinney

The Sperrins surround it, the Faughan flows by,
at each end of Main Street the hills and the sky,
the small town of Claudy at ease in the sun,
last July in the morning, a new day begun,
How peaceful and pretty if the moment could stop,
McElhinney is straightening things in his shop,
and his wife is outside serving petrol, and then
a girl takesa cloth to a big window pane.

And McCloskey is taking the weight off his feet,
and McClelland and Miller are sweeping the street,
and delivering milk to the Beaufort Hotel,
young Temple's enjoying his first job quite well.

And Mrs McLaughlin is scrubbing her floor,
and Artie Hone's crossing the street to a door,
and Mrs Brown looking around for her cat,
goes off up an entry - what's strange about that?
Not much - but before she comes back to the road,
That strange car parked outside her house will explode,
and all of the people I've mentioned outside
will be waiting to die.

An explosion too loud for your eardrums to bear,
and young children squealing like pigs in the square,
and all faces chalk white and streaked with bright red,
and the glass and the dust and the terrible dead.

For an old lady's legs are ripped off and the head
of a man's hanging open, and still he's not dead.
He is screaming for mercy, and his son stands and stares
and stares, and then suddenly disappears,
And Christ little Katherine Aiken is dead,
and Mrs McLaughlin is pierced through the head.
Meanwhile to Dungiven the killers have gone,
and they're finding it hard to get through on the phone

by Poet James Simmons

The End

Memorial Erected to the Victims of the Provisional IRA/Sinn Fein

Residents of the village decided to erect a memorial to those killed when three bombs exploded on 31 July 1972. The youngest victim was eight-year-old Katherine Eakin who was cleaning the windows of the family grocery store when the bombs exploded.

Joseph Connolly was barely into his teenage years when he lost his life in the bombing.

Memorial intended to illustrate individual grief A monument to remember those killed was commissioned because many villagers felt hurt as they thought the atrocity had been forgotten.

Sculptor Elizabeth McLaughlin said the memorial was an attempt to find an "expression of the grief of the individual". "Although grief might affect hundreds of people, it is always felt by the individual person." For some the statue will help to open up a discussion in the village about the atrocity.

Memorial intended to illustrate individual grief

According to Patricia Byrne, whose mother Rose McLaughlin was killed in the bombing, many people in the village remained silent for several years following the blast. "Nine people did lose their lives and I think that should be remembered. It should be talked about. "I don't think it'll necessarily stop anyone doing it again but just for this village I think it's important that those nine people aren't forgotten."

She believes that the memorial will help people to mark the atrocity and move on. "For the people around here, for the people of this village, we've had enough. It's time to move on. "We don't want another Claudy or Omagh for that matter."

Disabled police hero is buried

The funeral has taken place of an RUC officer almost 25 years after he was shot and injured. Bob Crozier (60) lost one leg and had the other seriously injured in a gun attack at Claudy in 1976. His partner on patrol, reserve constable Victor Hamer, was killed in the Co Derry ambush. Originally from Omagh, Mr Crozier fought to rebuild his life but was hit by a succession of health setbacks. He developed diabetes and angina which he believed were linked to the trauma of the shooting. After the attack, Mr Crozier was an active member of the Disabled Police Officers Association. He was decorated with a Queen's commendation for his bravery in helping clear Claudy during the IRA bombing of 1972 in which nine people died.

At his funeral in Omagh on Saturday, Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan led tributes. “Bob Crozier's courage in the line of duty and determination to overcome the horrific consequences of the terrorist murder attempt exemplifies all that has made the RUC the proud and professional police service it is today.”

Reverend Derek Quinn of Cappagh parish said: “Everybody had great respect for Robert. He never allowed his disability to stand in the way of his work. His death shocked the community which was greatly aware of his bravery.”