Bogside on Bloody Sunday 'like Dodge City'

A US serviceman's wife told the Bloody Sunday inquiry today it was like the wild west's Dodge City on the day paratroopers shot…

A US serviceman's wife told the Bloody Sunday inquiry today it was like the wild west's Dodge City on the day paratroopers shot dead 13 people in Derry.

Mrs Susan Hanson and her three children were living with her mother in the Bogside while her husband was serving with the US Navy in Vietnam.

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They started shooting their rifles as they jumped out. It was like Dodge City. They were firing live ammunition in the direction of the crowds
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Inquiry witness Mrs Susan Hanson

She broke down as she told the inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville in the Derry Guildhall, of what she saw out of the window of her aunt's where she had taken refuge after participating in the civil rights march.

She and relatives cowered in the flat as shooting went on outside.

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She said she saw 30 or 40 soldiers jumping out of army Saracen vehicles: "They started shooting their rifles as they jumped out. It was like Dodge City. They were firing live ammunition in the direction of the crowds at the southern end of Rossville Street."

Mrs Hanson recalled seeing a boy of between 12 and 16 running across waste ground being chased by a soldier and being caught by four or five other soldiers who started hitting him with their rifle butts. She said when he fell to the ground he was kicked.

"The boy was then held up by one soldier on each side. I could see that the boy was covered in blood. Next I saw the soldier who had been chasing him aim his rubber bullet gun directly at the boy and I saw him shoot the boy in the stomach at very close range," she said in her statement.

Mrs Hanson said she thought the boy was dead as saw him thrown into a Saracen.

She recalled seeing a number of other people beaten by the soldiers and thrown into military vehicles but did not see anyone shot dead.

She said when she got back to her mother's home after things calmed down people were dazed and crying.

"No one could believe what they had seen. The people in the march were just regular [ordinary] people. They were not involved in any paramilitary activity.

"Because my husband was in the military I was normally pro-military. However, these were innocent civilians that the soldiers had been shooting at that day and it was wrong."

PA