Tri-Service

Survivor's Story: The Ballygawley Bus Bombing

A former soldier who was badly injured in an IRA bus bombing nearly three decades ago has traced the passer-by who saved his life that day.

James Leatherbarrow suffered extensive injuries during the attack in Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in 1988 but survived thanks to first aid he received at the scene. Now he’s managed to find the lady who helped him.

27 years ago, a bus was travelling through County Tyrone. 36 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, the Light Infantry were on board, travelling from RAF Aldergrove to their base at Lisanelly Barracks in Omagh, after an 18-month tour of duty.

It was just after midnight on August 20th and as the soldiers prepared to return back to base from leave a suspicious man tried to board the bus. After failing to succeed he made a threatening gesture at the soldiers before they left, but threats at that time were common.

The coach and its occupants set off as planned, unaware of the fate awaiting them. As they passed through Curr near Ballygawley, the IRA detonated a 200 pound roadside bomb, planted in a nearby vehicle.

The force of the explosion hurled the bus down the road, threw soldiers into neighbouring fields and left a six-foot crater behind it. Eight men lost their lives that day, 28 others were injured.

James Leatherbarrow, who was 21 at the time, was one of those badly wounded. He was left with a broken back, perforated ear-drums and mental scars from the attack that continue to haunt him.

But amid the devastation, help arrived and the injured soldiers were given first aid at the scene.

James remembers being treated by a young girl – who he believes kept him alive – and he’s wanted to thank her personally ever since. Speaking on BBC Radio Foyle, James recalled:

“I was laying in this girl’s lap on the side of the road, she was keeping me awake tapping my face… I just lay there saying please don’t let me die, I’m getting married soon. So if it wasn’t for her really, I wouldn’t be stood here today.”

It turns out the girl was a member of Londonderry’s Star of the Valley Band who’d been travelling in coaches behind the fated bus. James launched an appeal via the local paper and radio and was inundated with messages helping him to track her down.

Now he’s finally been able to speak to her again. He told radio listeners “It was quite emotional really. One day we’re going to meet up and I’ll be able to thank her in person.”

For him, it was a chance to complete part of ‘a big jigsaw’. He’s since spoken to several people who helped him that night and learnt how he was trapped under the rear axle of the bus and dragged to safety.

James says he now has plans to meet those who came to his rescue and says without their help, many more would have died.