Boxer John Duddy remembers uncle slain on Bloody Sunday

Derry boxer John Duddy lost an uncle on Bloody Sunday

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CAHIR O'DOHERTY,

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It’s can be hard now to remember now how much courage it took to participate in a civil rights march in the North 38 years ago. Times were different -- you had to brave angry sectarian gauntlets armed with stones and even guns, you faced the near-certainty of a violent and irrational state-sponsored crack down, and you could not depend on the police force to protect you (quite the opposite, in fact).

In Derry in 1972 the Nationalist community lived in dread of a crackdown. It was coming, they all agreed -- the only question was when. On Sunday January 30, 1972 the march had been banned, but even in their worst nightmares the locals could not have imagined that the Parachute Regiment would unleash a freewheeling massacre.

Duddy adds, “In Derry this week it’ll feel like a weight’s been lifted. The truth has finally been released to the world. What we already knew has been made public. This catastrophe happened to innocent people and the British Army is being held responsible for their mistakes.”

Had he lived Jack Duddy, like his nephew, might have gone on to great things as a boxer. This week his nephew is in training for the fight of his life. It’s a process that involves daily training and health tests.

“I have to go and get a brain scan now,” Duddy adds. “It comes with my job. I’m waiting on this brain surgeon till I find out if I have one. I’m fighting next on the 26th of June. But you’re talking about a more important subject in my eyes.”

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