A man who went to the rescue of one of the Bloody Sunday victims despite coming under fire himself was today hailed as "a real hero" who ought to have been decorated for bravery.
The Saville Inquiry heard a witness pay an emotional tribute to the courage of Mr Paddy Walsh who made a failed attempt to save the life of Patrick Doherty, 31 - one of the 13 men shot dead in Derry on January 30th, 1972.
Mr Charles McLaughlin described the dead man's final moments, attempting to crawl away from British Paratroopers who came into the Bogside that day and how it "broke his heart" when he realised that he knew the victim.
Mr McLaughlin also told the hearing that he forbade his son leaving him and his wife during the civil rights march which degenerated into the killing when he wanted to join a friend, Hugh Gilmour - another of those killed that day.
He was at home in the Rossville Flats when Paratroopers came into the Bogside following the march and opened fire and watched the action in the car park of the complex and the forecourt on the other side from his flat that day.
He said he watched a party of men move from the car park and emerge on the forecourt through an exit between two blocks of the flats, one of them pulling himself along on his stomach and trailing one of his legs behind him.
"This man was out on his own in the open and I thought that if he kept going he would be done for," Mr McLaughlin said.
"When he reached almost halfway I shouted to him something like, 'Stay where you are or they'll shoot you'.
"I saw a lead bullet strike and bounce off the pavement between the crawling man and the retaining wall to the south of him.
He then saw Mr Walsh crawl out from shelter on his hands and knees towards the casualty, waving a white handkerchief.
"This second man was also shot at and had to lie on the ground. He then waved his handkerchief again and made it over to the wounded man. He lifted the man's head and I suppose discovered that he was dead.
"I learned later that this man's name was Paddy Walsh. He was a real hero and should have been decorated for bravery."
It was only after the shooting subsided and the dead man was carried away beneath his window that Mr McLaughlin recognised him and Mr Doherty, who worked with him in the Du Pont textiles factory.
"He was a man I spoke to almost every day at work and who cared only about his family. The way he was killed hit me very hard and broke my heart," Mr McLaughlin said.
Mr McLaughlin was one of two men in the witness box today to recount seeing a gunman in the car park of the flats, a figure described last month by retired Bishop of Derry Dr Edward Daly.
However, the other witness, Mr Francis Dunne, insisted that the only other weapons were carried by soldiers, adding: "I would not describe the shooting I heard in the Rossville Flats car park as a gun battle; definitely not. It was not a gunfight at the OK Corral."
Mr Dunne also claimed that after the fatal shootings a soldier in another regiment commented that it had been "a bad day's work". He said the remark was made by a squaddie who stopped people returning from the Bogside after the Paratroopers withdrew.
He stated: "While we were standing there a priest came along but I do not know from where. He was very angry and started shouting at the soldiers.
"One of the soldiers said it had been 'a bad day's work, bad business'. He could have been humouring the priest but I think he was genuine."
PA