Kingsmill Massacre: Memorial service to mark 40 year anniversary

A religious service at the site of the Kingsmill massacre is to be held to mark the 40 year anniversary of the shooting of 10 Protestant workmen.

A mural supporting the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast, September 2015.Reuters

A minibus carrying 12 textile factory workers was ambushed near Kingsmill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland on 5 January, 1976. Gunmen asked for the workers' religion, and released the one Catholic colleague. They then lined the 11 remaining men up and shot them.

One survived. Alan Black was shot 18 times and spent months recovering in hospital. At 72, he remains haunted by the events of that night.

"This time of year, I go into countdown mode - I look at the calendar and at the clock and think to myself: 'The boys have only five days or five hours or five minutes to live,' right up to the time of the ambush.

"On a nice summer's day, it is like it happened to someone else in a different life, but when the winter sets in and the dark nights come round it feels like it just happened yesterday. But I want to see a bit of truth and justice. For the boys, but mostly for the families who are still searching for the truth."

The ten men killed were John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Reginald Chapman, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Samuel Walker and Kenneth Worton.

No one has ever been convicted for the killings, and the initial inquest in 1978 lasted just 30 minutes.

The IRA had been on ceasefire when the massacre happened, and never admitted to have been involved in the attack and it was claimed by the little-known South Armagh Republican Action Force.

However in June 2011 the Historical Enquiries Team found that the IRA was responsible.

An inquest is set to take place in April, having first been announced in 2013 but adjourned eight times.

"It is my opinion that there was a cover up," Black said.

"I really hope the cover up started after it happened but I am beginning to suspect they knew it was going to happen and they allowed it to happen. I have had a lot of time to think and it's the only thing that makes any sense. No one was ever convicted and they are not looking for anybody."