Thread by @SEFFLisnaskea

SEFF remembers Geraldine O'Reilly, 15, Staghall, Belturbet & Patrick Stanley, 16, from Clara, Co. Offaly, murdered by a Loyalist car bomb in Belturbet, Co Cavan on 28/12/72

On that fateful day, a bomb had previously exploded in a blue Morris 1100 car on Fermanagh St, Clones, ...

..at 10.01pm, seriously injuring 2 men. A 3rd bomb exploded outside the licensed premises of Hugh Britton at Mullnagoad, near Pettigo, Donegal. No one was injured, though the pub was extensively damaged.
The cars used in Clones & Belturbet had both been stolen in Enniskillen ...

..earlier that day & the locations of all 3 bombs were in a radius of 20 miles from Enniskillen, & all in towns south of the Border.
Reports at the time describe damage to property caused by the 100lb-bomb, planted in a Red 1969 Ford Escort, to be estimated at £200,000. The car..

..was driven across the Border & to the town through the Aghalane crossing at 9pm, an hour & a half before the blast. 23 houses in Butler St were damaged by the explosion, 13 houses in The Diamond & 18 houses in Bridge St, with others less seriously damaged on Holborn Hill, The..

..Lawn & at Banker's Lane.
14 cars were also damaged, while pieces of the bomb car were recovered from a 100-yard radius of the blast site.
Patrick, a helper on a bottle gas container lorry, had been making a phone call in a nearby kiosk when the bomb went off. Geraldine, who ...

.. was on her Christmas holidays from school, was across the road in Slowey's chip shop waiting to be served when the bomb exploded. She suffered head injuries from flying shrapnel.
Geraldine's brother, Anthony, had been waiting for her outside in the car. His car was parked a ..

..mere 10-feet from the blast site. From a family of 8, Geraldine being the youngest, Anthony remembers her as following him everywhere. "We were very close. When it went off, to tell you the truth I thought I had fallen asleep. I heard a bang, I thought I was dreaming & fell ...

..out onto the footpath. I was dazed, I didn't know what had happened, I went down the street, I didn't know which way was which. It was then I realised that Geraldine was in the chipper. I started to call for her & someone came & took me then. Later that evening, I had to go &..

..identify Geraldine's body in the hospital, I identified her by her clothes.
The hurt of what happened still hasn't gone away, it never will. Our mother & father couldn't ever nearly talk about it, it was only after they died did anyone really begin to talk about it really, ...

..get something done. You do think what they could have grown up to be, would Geraldine have had her own family now, it's just so sad they have to be remembered in this way."
A specially sculptured monument was erected in early '07 on the site of the bomb, dedicated to the 2 ...

.. victims.

The symbol of a book was chosen as Geraldine's goal in life was to become a teacher. The dancing pumps represent her keen interest in Irish dancing.
Patrick was a member of his local GAA club in Clara & had a keen interest in Gaelic football. He also enjoyed a game..

.. of Hurley which is symbolised on the Memorial Quilt by the crossed Hurley sticks.

SEFF's thoughts and prayers are with the Stanley and O'Reilly families whose love ones were innocents lost to terrorism.