Belfast author Gerry Armstrong, whose 18 year old brother Paul was murdered by the UVF almost 50 years ago, has revealed that for 25 years after the killing his family were so traumatised that they never spoke his name.
Accompanied by family and friends, Mr Armstrong planted a tree in memory of Paul in the garden of the WAVE Trauma Centre
He recounted how he told Secretary of State Hilary Benn that Paul’s mother could not attend his funeral or go into Milltown Cemetery where Paul was buried.
Mr Armstrong said: “I could tell just looking at him that he could hardly believe it. But that was the impact of Paul’s murder on our family. Outside the family though what happened to Paul hardly registered.
“His life and his brutal death at the hands of the UVF just wasn’t big enough a story to those who decide these things.
“I couldn’t just sit there and let Paul become just another statistic.”
He continued: “After our mother died in 1999 I just started to write down things about Paul and who he was and what he had done in those 18 years.
“How he had joined the merchant navy as a 16 year old cabin boy. His last port of call was New Zealand from where he had to be flown home on sick leave.
“He was heading to the Shipping Pool to continue his travels but the UVF cruelly took that opportunity away from him”.
Paul Armstrong’s body was found in a disused bakery in Byron Street in the Oldpark area of north Belfast.
There was evidence that he had been tortured before being shot in the head.
Mr Armstrong said that the family had been told by the RUC that ‘no stone would be left unturned’ in pursuit of Paul’s murderers but nothing came of it.
Mr Armstrong continued: “We’ve been let down over the years. Promises made that were never kept and I’ve long since lost interest in any talk of truth and justice because that won’t happen.
“What I could do was to make sure that Paul had a voice. My book about Paul, A Young Life Stolen was published by Shanway Press, I’ve talked about Paul on tv and radio.
“I’ve said to journalists who’ll regularly write about the perpetrators if they will do the same for Paul and so many others like him. Some have. And now a cabinet minister has my book and has heard of Paul.
“I’ve done what I wanted to do and I’m happy to say I’m in a better place because of it and I can stop now on my own terms”.
He concluded: “This tree is a lovely way to remember Paul and it’s so good to be here at WAVE where I feel so much at home amongst friends who understand what it is to have suffered violent loss and who like me have not just survived it but have grown beyond it.”
