"I'm obliged as his son to keep fighting away for him"

Words: Tadhg Carey; Photos: Ann Hennessy.

“The sixteenth of December 1983 is the date that terrorism came to my family's door,” recalls David Kelly, son of the late Private Patrick Kelly, the only member of the Defence Forces to lose his life during The Troubles.

“We were an ordinary family just living in the small town of Moate but from that date everything changed forever for our family,” David explains.
He was speaking in Athlone Castle earlier this month as he launched a special exhibition of memorial quilts made up of patches provided by the families of the innocent victims who lost their lives at the hands of terrorists.
Patrick (Paddy) Kelly came from humble origins. His father was a farm labourer from North Longford. One of a family of nine, Patrick's formal education ended after national school when he started to work.
After meeting his wife, they settled in Moate.
“His whole life was about trying to get on, work hard and make a better life for his children.”
David explained that by 1983, his father had 14-years-service in the Defence Forces and had competed tours of duty abroad in South Lebanon and in Cyprus.

David Kelly at the Athlone Castle exhibition, A Tribute To Innocents' on March 11. The exhibition comprised a number of memorial quilts made up of patches provided by the families of the innocent victims who lost their lives at the hands of terrorists. 

His father was a very experienced soldier, attached to transport company, who was familiar with the Border area having carried out duties at Ballyconnell.
In December 1983, he was part of a search party that went to Derrada Woods, outside the town of Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, looking for the kidnapped business executive Don Tidey, who had been held for 23 days.
The search party came across the kidnappers' hideout. David takes up the story: “What had happened was that they opened up without warning, cold-blooded, without warning with AK47.
“A young garda was killed almost immediately with head wounds. 
“My father took bullets all over his body, from his toes up to his neck and, I have spoken to colleagues here in Athlone who served with him who were there in the wood that today who were able to describe to me exactly what happened.”
He said he would never forget that night, when at the age of nine, he along with his three brothers, heard the news in Moate.
Initially, there was huge support for the family. 
“It shocked the whole country. There was a State funeral and massive goodwill towards us all over. My mother got messages and letters of support from all over the island of Ireland.”
However, after things died down the Kellys were left to fend for themselves.
They moved to England but difficulties arose and they ended up facing a struggle for survival. 
“It's unbelievable to think that on the third anniversary of the State funeral, we were actually homeless in London.”
Since then, the four sons returned to Ireland as adults and all now live here.
As the years went by David found himself asking more and more questions about the circumstances of his father's death and as to who was responsible.
“It was us that took the hard hit, our family was ruined basically by terrorism.”
No one has ever been charged in relation to the death of Private Patrick Kelly.
“We have had no closure. Where is the closure for us?” he asks. 
David says there also has never been any acknowledgement by the Republican movement of the wrongs inflicted on the family.
“We've never had any genuine remorse from them for what happened to us. Nothing to say that what happened to us was wrong, was unjustified and should never have happened.”
He says it's important to understand that his father's death reflected a wider struggle to maintain the legitimacy of the Irish State, citing the words of former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrove who said that if it wasn't for An Garda Siochana and the Defence Forces there would not be an Irish State.
“My father was a member of Oglaigh na hEireann, the Defence Forces, the legitimate democratic constitutional army of the republic murdered by an organisation who believe that they were the true Irish army. They didn't just not recognise the legitimacy of Northern Ireland, they didn't recognise Southern Ireland either.”
Remarking that nobody had been held accountable for his father’s death, David said: “I'm obliged as his son to keep fighting away for him and I'm determined to do that.”