A memorial service for the 48th anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre was organised this morning by FAIR at the memorial erected to mark the victims of one of Northern Ireland’s worst atrocities. 

The lonely roadside in south Armagh was where 10 innocent Protestant workers were shot dead on a dark January evening as they returned home from work in 1976.

The memorial service was conducted by Rev Graham Middleton who expressed his “privilege and an honour” to take the service, and expressed his solidarity and support for the families.

The 48th Kingsmill Anniversary Remembrance service for the Kingsmill shootings at the memorial wall outside Whitecross in Co. Armagh. 10 Protestant men were shot dead by republicans after their work van was pulled in January 1976. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye

Speaking at the memorial he said

“I guarantee you each one of those families, to each one of them, it’s just like yesterday because it’s still raw,” he went on to speak of the comfort of God for those families many of whom were present.

The terrorist ambush had been carefully prepared with multiple killers taking part alongside support teams and scouts. It was not as some alleged a knee-jerk reaction to recent events, nor was it as the PIRA tried to claim an operation carried out by another group. It was a cold calculated act of sectarian barbarity against the minority Protestant population of South Armagh, part of a wider campaign to ethnically cleanse the entire border area of Protestants. That night the men were asked their religion, fearing it was the sole Roman Catholic who was the target they tried to protect him but the terrorists ordered him to flee the scene before murdering the remaining Protestants.

The 11 remaining men to line up outside the van before opening fire, those not killed in the initial hail of gunfire were systematically executed as they lay injured on the ground. Alan Black was the sole survivor, who despite being riddled with bullets lived as the bodies of his workmates covered him.

Family members of those killed during the Kingsmill Massacre laid flowers below plaques bearing the names and ages of the victims.

Jacqueline Semple’s brother Kenneth Worton one of the 10 men killed in the attack.

He was 24 at the time and Ms Semple was 22. She said losing her brother was “terrible”.

“There was five of us in the family and we just played normally and had a normal good upbringing and this was just devastation. Never in your wildest dreams – such a tragedy,”

“It was just hard. I was a bridesmaid at his wedding and then he was my best man and, like, there’s only really a year and a half between the two of us and we were so close.”

Ms Semple said it was “raw” to return to the site of the ambush.

“You have to be here. You know, it’s 48 years now and we’re coming here 48 years,… I’m not one for graveyards. I mean, they’re up there, they’re in your heart. But this is nice to have somewhere to go.”

Mourners sang a hymn and a two-minute silence was observed

As the 50th anniversary of the attack approaches, Ms Semple said her family will always remember Mr Worton.

“We speak about him all the day, his photograph’s up, we’re always talking about him.

“And then his two daughters, they were only six and three, and it’s just, it’s a brother, you’ve lost as a whole.

“This was a big thing, like, in 76. I mean, it felt like something out of a different country.

“It brings it all up. It’s hard. It’s hard. He’s always there. He’s always mentioned. Never forget, until the day we die.”