Remembering the Miami Showband 50 Years On

Fifty years to the day since the Miami Showband Massacre, surviving band members were joined by a large crowd at Buskhill between Newry and Banbridge, the site where on 31 July 1975 three members of the band were murdered, and two UVF members died when their own bomb exploded prematurely. Many of those present had also suffered through the troubles.

As well as band members Des Lee and Stephen Travers who were caught up in the tragedy, another member of the band Ray Miller and Road Manager Brian Maguire  were also there to pay tribute. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher was also present.

Lee and Travers recalled the fateful night at the commemoration and the loss of their friends and band members Tony Geraghty, Brian McCoy and Fran O'Toole. Fr Brian D'Arcy recalled his friendship with the band and said that despite the terrible event music and goodness survives.

Fr D'Arcy led those present in prayer, emphasising that he was praying for all who died. "We ask the Lord to give peaceful rest to all who died at this spot and I put that in a specific way, to all who died at this spot, those with wrong intentions, they had to face their God too. We ask that the Lord would give peaceful rest to them as well, but most of all to our lovely friends, Fran O'Toole, Tony Gerrity and Brian McCoy, the nicest guys."

He added that showbusiness was a place where politics and bigotry were left aside and nobody knew or cared what politics or what religion anyone was in the dancehalls.

Band member Stephen Travers was seriously injured that fateful night. Speaking at the event Travers said "the question that we've been asked consistently this morning is, how do we feel about this? And it's a mixed bag of emotions and relief.

What Has Just Happened Here?

"I remember when the killing, the shooting and the screaming all stopped, and we were fairly certain that they had gone away and Des managed to get up onto the road, to get into the police station. I remember looking up at the sky, it was a half moon, I can remember it very, very clearly, and thinking to myself - What has just happened here?"

Thinking of the horror visited on the band, Travers spoke of "crawling around between the bodies of our lads and the body parts of the unfortunate men who blew themselves up" but he still had time today to beg for a halt to the genocide in Gaza.

"Those memories would stay with me forever, not just memories they're ever present. And when I watch television every night, and I see the scenes of destruction and carnage that we have to watch every night, I actually feel guilty, and I beg, on my knees, I beg the powers that be to stop this genocide in Gaza. It must stop now."

Wouldn't Wish it on my Worst Enemy

Band member Des Lee who survived because he was blown into a ditch at the scene, also spoke. Lee said: "when I look down over that ditch now I don't know how the hell I got up because that's one hell of a drop. I don't know what got me up there, but something got me up there. But when I got up there, onto this road, and I saw what I saw, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It was horrendous what I saw. "

Travers believes the plan was to frame the band as terrorists. "The simple plan was to frame us and when I look at Brian Maguire and I look at Ray Miller, who, for any small reason, Ray could have decided he'd come down to Dublin with us, or Brian would have been normally behind us, and he would have been pulled in as well. They would have been dead. But what really strikes me is the fact that had this operation gone successfully, and had we been framed as terrorists, our families would have been destroyed. And if you look back at the Maguire family in England, when they were dragged in - innocent people.

I'm sure lots of you saw Frans father trying to follow his son into the grave in various clips on television. Can you just imagine bringing that man into a police station and questioning him as to what he knew about his terrorist son. This is the tragedy. It's not just us, that this thing was aimed at. It was a brilliant plan had it worked. Every single Irish Passport Holder across the diaspora around the world would have been suspect and dragged into this, had it worked."

Travers called on NI Secretary of State Hilary Benn to repeal the legacy act. "Without justice, there will never be peace. So I would say to Hillary Ben, who I've met twice - repeal this awful, obscene legacy act and give people access to the courts."

In conclusion Travers said he was  enormously proud of the legacy of the Miami showband. "And it is simply this - that when people came to see us, whether they were Catholic, Protestant, unionist, nationalists, they left sectarianism outside the door of the dance hall, and they saw each other as human beings, which is what we are, and they danced with each other."

He also expressed thanks to Eddie Marmion, who has looked after the little plot on the site of the massacre for many years.

Former leader of the SDLP, Alasdair McDonnell also spoke "These brutal murders stand out as the most meaningless, most hopeless, most despairing, because they served no purpose, not even the purpose of the crazy people who perpetrated it."

Daisy Hill Hospital

Following the event at the site of the Massacre, the band members visited Council Offices in Monaghan Row (A mix up meant though that some people were waiting for them at Newry Town Hall) and afterwards Stephen Travers and their Road Manager at the time Brian Maguire visited Daisy Hill Hospital where Travers was taken after the incident. John Davis who worked at the hospital at the time showed him around the part of the hospital he would have been taken to.

For the Miami Showband members and their friends on the musical circuit it was a day of reflection and catching up with old friends and fans after fifty years, which Travers explained sometimes feels like fifty seconds!