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A survivor of a double bomb attack which killed 18 soldiers in Co Down says he feels at peace with himself 40 years on.<\/p>\nA survivor of a double bomb attack which killed 18 soldiers in Co Down says he feels at peace with himself 40 years on.<\/p>\n
Tom Caughey, a former member of the Parachute Regiment, was left so badly injured following the IRA attack on August 27, 1979 that doctors told his family he would only survive if he fought.<\/p>\n
He said he struggled in the years afterwards with survivor\u2019s guilt but now feels at peace with himself.<\/p>\n
The Warrenpoint ambush has been described as the Army\u2019s worst loss of life in a single incident in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
The Co Down man is the last survivor of the first blast, which detonated at Narrow Water as a convoy of vehicles brought soldiers from Ballykinler barracks to Newry.<\/p>\n
Seven of the nine soldiers in that truck were killed. The only other survivor, Paul Burns, died in 2013.<\/p>\n
Minutes later the IRA exploded a second bomb, where they correctly predicted survivors would seek cover. That blast killed 11 soldiers.<\/p>\n
The incident came just hours after Lord Mountbatten and three others, including a Fermanagh teenager, were killed in a bomb off the coast of Co Sligo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lovely day, sun shining, we were messing about out the back of the wagon with cars, making faces at kids with orange peel in our mouths,\u201d Mr Caughey told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the initial blast went off it was behind me, it wasn\u2019t a big bang, it was a flash, a rumble and a sensation of flying, like when you were a kid in a car going over a bump and your stomach would turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing to, I was sitting up against a fence, my vision was orange, like looking through orange sunglasses, everything was on fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember seeing my legs on fire, I couldn\u2019t see anyone moving, it was carnage.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext thing the boys were putting water on me and cutting my clothes off to get the flames out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey almost got me on the second explosion \u2013 the other survivor Paul Burns and I were in the chopper when the rumble, the flash, it all started again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tail end of the Wessex was bent but the pilot kept it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Caughey was later taken to the Queen Elizabeth Military Hospital in Woolwich.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum told me when she arrived in Woolwich, the colonel looking after me said to her, \u2018it\u2019s entirely up to him, if he fights he might keep his legs, if he doesn\u2019t, he might lose his legs and probably his life\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Graham Eve was also a member of the Parachute Regiment and was deployed to secure the scene after the bombs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were flown in, there had been the two explosions and we thought it was militarily fantastic, and as we took up position we were wondering if they had a third one covered as well, we were very alert,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were clear plastic bags everywhere full of bits and pieces of people. I\u2019ll never forget those plastic bags full of body parts, and you think who did they belong to and think which of my mates are they.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Caughey and Mr Eve both joined the Parachute Regiment in 1977 as teenagers.<\/p>\n
They saw service in Berlin in 1979, which included guarding the senior Nazi Rudolf Hess.<\/p>\n
Deployment in Northern Ireland was next, before being sent to the Falklands War in 1982.<\/p>\n
However Mr Caughey was kept back.<\/p>\n
He had spent 14 months in hospital and rehabilitation, even learning how to walk again.<\/p>\n
Mr Eve said: \u201cIt was hard for Tom because we went off to war, to the Falklands, his battalion was away and he couldn\u2019t go and that was one of the hardest things for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Caughey left the Army, and said the next ten years were difficult, frankly describing himself then as \u201cnot a nice person\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know who I was or what I was, it took me about ten years to seek help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to kill someone, dunno who, dunno when, dunno why, but I knew I was physically going to kill someone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no understanding of why but I knew it wasn\u2019t me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would go down to Narrow Water and sit and talk to them; it helped but it didn\u2019t, I had survivor\u2019s guilt, I did not want to be on this earth, I wanted to be with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I walked into hospital in Ards, the psychiatric bit, and said I need to speak to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Mr Caughey said he feels at peace with himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am glad to be alive and enjoying life, I have a lovely little granddaughter and she is my world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very much at peace with myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Eve added: \u201cThere is no bitterness with either of us, it\u2019s our grandchildren now, it\u2019s their future and we should put it all to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack.<\/p>\n
Its members are believed to have detonated the bombs from across the Newry River at a spot in the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n
No-one has ever been brought to justice for the atrocity.<\/p>\n
Two men, Joe Brennan and Brendan Burns, were questioned by police, but never charged.<\/p>\n
Mr Caughey said: \u201cI always get asked about Joe Brennan. He means nothing to me, why would I carry him about with me in my life?<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not looking for justice, I didn\u2019t expect it, and probably don\u2019t want it. It\u2019s never going to bring anyone back.\u201d<\/p>\n