Report Paul Murphy
There were mixed emotions for many in the attendance of over 100 people today at a ceremony to remember the dead of the Miami Showband on the 50th anniversary of their murder at Buskhill, Co Down. Ambush survivors Des McAlea and Stephen Travers were there along with associated members of the greater Miami “family” and it was an emotional day for them, first of thanksgiving for their narrow escape from death at the hands of a cruel UVF terrorist gang on 31st July 1975 but sadness also for the loss of their fellow band members Brian McCoy, Fran O’Toole and Tony Geraghty.

The Miami Massacre, as it came to be known, was one of the many atrocities perpetrated during the years of the Troubles, but it had a special significance because of the evil intent of those behind the planning of the attack. The story is well known but is worth repeating for a younger generation who know little about the origins of the Troubles.

The Miami Showband had played at a gig in the Castle Ballroom, Banbridge and were returning home in their minibus in the early hours of the morning when they were stopped at Buskhill alongside the partially-built A1 road between Banbridge and Newry when they were stopped at a checkpoint. Pictured above are Ray Millar (former Miami drummer) Des Lee, Stephen Travers and Brian Maguire, former Miami Showband road manager.

HOW THE TRAGEDY UNFOLDED

The checkpoint was unauthorised and included some men who were members of the Ulster Defence Regiment but also others who were members of the terrorist UVF. Their intention was to get the band members out of the vehicle, line them up and ostensibly carry out a search of the minibus but, in fact, used the occasion to attempt to plant a 10lb bomb on it. As fate would have it that bomb exploded prematurely, killing two of the gang members outright.

The remainder of the gang panicked and opened fire on the lined-up band members, killing three of them. McAlea, stage name Des Lee, and Stephen Travers were blown clear and although injured managed to pretend they were dead. If the bomb had remained intact and then exploded as the minibus travelled through the Republic, the implications would have been enormous, giving credence to the lie that showband members were smuggling arms or explosives over the border, but also destroying their reputation and the reputations of their families. Who would then believe that they were just innocent musicians?

The irony of all this was that the band was made up of both Catholics and Protestants and they had left sectarianism outside the door. They were, indeed, “just innocent musicians”. The evil intent of the bomb plot had echoes in some of the speeches made at Buskhill today.
Although today’s ceremony was mainly for the surviving band members, their families, fellow musicians and local people, the attendance also included the Chief Constable of the PSNI Jon Boutcher, Alasdair McDonnell former leader of the SDLP. A message from Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle was read to the gathering.

Des McAlea and Stephen Travers survivors of the attacked with Frank Godfrey at the scene of the UVF attack on the band at Bushkill, Co Down fifty years ago on 31st July 1975.

THE SURVIVORS RECALL 

Des McAlea said that when he managed to get out of the deep ditch on the night of the ambush and saw what he saw on the road above “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy”. He had particular thanks to PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher who was present “for helping me quite a lot in the past”. He welcomed the Miami drummer Ray Millar and the road manager in 1975 Brian Maguire. Stephen Travers said he had a mixed bag of relief and emotion.

He began by thanking Eddie Marmion who has been looking after the plot of ground at the ambush site for many years. He welcomed Eugene Reavey whose three brothers were murdered by the Glenanne gang and Michael Gallagher whose son Aiden was killed in the 1998 Omagh bombing. He remembered that when the killing and the shooting and the screaming stopped and they were fairly sure the gang had gone away, and Des managed to get up onto the road and get to a police station he himself lay in the field and looked up at the sky to see a half moon and thinking to himself “what has just happened here?”

The awful memories were with him forever, he said. Watching the scenes of destruction and death on the TV screens every night he wanted to say “on my knees I beg the powers that be to stop this genocide in Gaza”. He said to loud applause “It must stop now”. He said that had the terrorists’ plan had gone successfully and had the band been framed as terrorists, their families would have been destroyed. He recalled the scenes at Fran’s funeral when his father tried to follow his son into the grave. “Can you just imagine bringing that man into a police
station and questioning him as to what he knew about his ‘terrorist’ son? This was not just about us. 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”.

WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT

Fr Brian D’Arcy said that the terrible events of July 31st 1975 were as fresh today as they were in that year when he got a call in the middle of the night to go and help the news to the bereaved families. People could not believe that anyone in showbusiness could be targeted in such a way because everyone believed that showbusiness was a place where politics and bigotry was left aside. In the dancehalls of Ireland nobody knew or cared what politics or religion a person was.

In his own case he had known the Miami in their various iterations down through the years. “I had enormous time for Fran as a lead singer and composer and a talent who was about to break into one of the greatest talents we ever had. Why anyone who would want to hurt people like that, even in those times in the North, didn’t seem right – and 50 years later it still doesn’t seem right”.

He said he had a sense of pride in Des and Stephen “because they have taught us how to overcome bigotry. They have taught us by their life, by their working, by their dedication to peace, by their incredible insight into what hate does. They have taught us that life is more precious than anything”. He asked the attendance to join him in the recitation of the Our father and Frankie McDonald, trumpeter with Joe Dolan and The Drifters for over 40 years, played Abide with Me.