Thread by @SEFFLisnaskea

SEFF remembers Kenneth Smyth, 28, Protestant, married UDR Sergeant & Daniel McCormick, 29, RC, married with 5 children, just recently resigned from the UDR, murdered by PIRA 50 yrs ago, 10/12/71, in a farmhouse near the border.

Around 9:00am the 2 men were waiting in a Land ...

..Rover to pick up a third to travel to work together. The attack occurred at Lisdoo, Clady nr Strabane. The gunmen were waiting behind bushes & opened fire at close range.
Kenneth tried to jump out of the vehicle & take cover by lying on the ground. The gunmen approached him ..

..& shot him at close range in the head. The 3rd man told police he had been at the scene & managed to escape unhurt saying he was 2 fields from the road when he heard gunshots.
He said: "I do not remember how many shots were fired because I just dropped into a ditch. I didn't..

..see any gunmen or see anyone run away. I feel a very lucky man that I escaped. I could just as easily have been involved in it".
Kenneth had previously survived attempts on his life. He & his wife lived in Castlederg. Daniel was from Fyfin, Strabane.
Kenneth's remains were ..

..taken to Urney Presbyterian Church, where he had been married just 3 mths earlier, & were given a full-time military guard.
Kenneth's sister Shelley Gilfillan recalls the deep sense of grief felt by the family at the loss of their dear brother & son: “I remember my mother ....

..crying the whole [of Christmas day and there was a feeling of gloom over everything. We missed him terribly and Christmas has never been the same for me since”.

SEFF's thoughts and prayers are with the Smyth and McCormick families today and every day.