The Kingsmill Massacre, 50 years ago today, 5 January 1976
In late October 2025, I had the privilege of filming a video interview with Alan Black (below) for Maurice Wylie Media, and taking the photo posted below. From Alan, we had the opportunity to hear the first-hand eyewitness account of that awful atrocity
The Kingsmill Massacre took place near Whitecross in South Armagh on 5 January 1976. On this 50th anniversary, our thoughts and prayers go out to Alan Black, the sole survivor of the massacre that claimed the lives of ten of his workmates. Miraculously, Alan survived the IRA attack, despite being shot 18 times at close range.
Our thoughts also go out to the remaining members of the families and friends of the ten victims who are still grieving their loss all these decades later. These men were dads, sons, brothers, husbands, uncles and workmates. They were robbed of a future in a very brutal manner.
The massacre took place close to Bessbrook, when a minibus carrying factory workers home from work was stopped at what appeared to be a British Army checkpoint. It turned out to be an IRA set up.
Eleven Protestant workmen were lined up at the side of the minibus and shot multiple times. Ten died instantly. Only Alan Black survived. A Catholic man on the minibus was allowed to go free. It was one of the deadliest mass shootings of the Troubles.
The ten men who were murdered were:
John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Reginald Chapman, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Walker, Kenneth Worton.
A second inquest into the atrocity, which finished in 2024, concluded that the attack was overtly sectarian and was carried out by a unit consisting of at least 12 members of the IRA, pretending to be an Army patrol.
No one has been held accountable for the attack.
