Please join us at the H.A.R.P. Museum as it continues its popular “Lunch and Learn” series on Wednesday, September 10 at 11 AM , where Steven Smits recounts witnessing the events of Ireland’s “Bloody Sunday” while serving in the United States Navy in Derry, Ireland.
The onset of conflict in Northern Ireland began in Derry in 1969 with the “Battle of the Bogside”. The bloody war between nationalists and unionists continued until the “Good Friday” agreement in 1998. As the events transitioned from a civil rights protest to sectarian violence across the province, 3,720 civilians, police, and soldiers lost their lives, and 47,500 people were injured in the tens of thousands of shootings and bombings.
Steve Smits will discuss the experiences and observations of he and his wife in Derry during the early years of the conflict. As an American service man stationed at the U.S. Naval Communication Station in Derry, he had the opportunity to hear from Catholics and Protestants and to visit their enclaves in the segregated neighborhoods of the city. He will recall the daily riots, the bombings, and the perspectives of the people of Derry.
Steve will recount the evening when a bomb detonated outside their flat on the Strand Road near the city center. He will describe the shock of “Bloody Sunday”, on January 30, 1972, when 14 civilians on a protest march were shot by soldiers of the First Parachute Regiment. The “whitewash” report on the event of the Widgery Commission in 1972 and the revised report of the Saville Commission will be covered.
After his departure from Derry in 1972, by 1977, the violence increased to the point where the U.S. Navy, on orders from the White House, vacated the Naval Station, a presence in the community since 1942.
Steve Smits is a retired director of Central New York Developmental Disabilities Services Offices and is active in the Town of Western Historical Society.
A $20 registration fee will cover the program and lunch (tax and gratuity are included). All those interested in attending are asked to register at the link below or leave a message at (315) 733-4228, Ext 6. The H.A.R.P. Museum is located on the second floor of the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley, 623 Columbia St, Utica. All are welcome to attend this program and the museum is wheelchair accessible.
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