0:00:03 > 0:00:06Hello and welcome to Enniskillen in Northern Ireland
0:00:06 > 0:00:10for a very special programme this Remembrance Sunday.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13It's a time to remember the men and women who gave their lives
0:00:13 > 0:00:17in two world wars and other conflicts past and present.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Today, Songs Of Praise has come to Enniskillen in Northern Ireland
0:00:44 > 0:00:4630 years after a bomb exploded
0:00:46 > 0:00:49during the town's Remembrance Day ceremony.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53We meet those whose Christian faith has brought hope amidst the tragedy.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Sean Fletcher meets a woman who was finally able to give her brother
0:00:58 > 0:01:01a Christian burial more than 70 years after he was killed
0:01:01 > 0:01:04on a World War II battlefield.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08And after losing friends and sustaining devastating injuries
0:01:08 > 0:01:11in Afghanistan, former Royal Marine JJ Chalmers
0:01:11 > 0:01:14reflects on what Remembrance Sunday means to him.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28On this Remembrance Sunday people across the UK
0:01:28 > 0:01:32will be gathering at war memorials like this one to remember those
0:01:32 > 0:01:34who lost their lives in two world wars.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37It was no different in November 1987
0:01:37 > 0:01:40when people here in Enniskillen came to pay their respects.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44But shortly before 11 o'clock,
0:01:44 > 0:01:49a large IRA bomb exploded near the crowd of men, women and children.
0:01:49 > 0:01:5111 people were killed on the day
0:01:51 > 0:01:55and a further victim died later as a result of his injuries.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59But many believe the response of the local community
0:01:59 > 0:02:01helped to turn the tide in the peace process.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Today, the people of Enniskillen and the surrounding area have gathered
0:02:07 > 0:02:11here at St Macartin's Cathedral to remember and to give thanks.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Father Brian D'Arcy was brought up in Enniskillen
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and went to school in the building where the bomb was left.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02He returned to serve as a priest here shortly after
0:05:02 > 0:05:04the events of November 1987.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08It was one of the first days that I can say I grew up
0:05:08 > 0:05:11because my childhood had been bombed.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The happiness, the friendships,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20the noise, the laughs, the teachers,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23it just dissipated in sadness.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Stephen Ross was only 14 in November 1987.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32He and his friends made their way up this road
0:05:32 > 0:05:34to the Remembrance Day ceremony.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38You know, even though the event was 30 years ago, the memories
0:05:38 > 0:05:41are still very vivid of what actually happened that morning.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45And I just remember looking at my watch at 10.43 and looking up
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and that split second, literally,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50no sooner had I looked up than the explosion occurred.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55I heard a sheer noise from behind and just being thrown forward
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and landing on my face.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59The next thing being pulled out of the rubble,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02not being able to see a single thing.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04I just put my hand to my mouth to not being able to feel my teeth,
0:06:04 > 0:06:06the taste of concrete and blood.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10All the bones in my face had been completely impacted in.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13They were completely broken around my eye sockets, my jawbone.
0:06:13 > 0:06:14I lost most of my front teeth.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Basically, I had to undergo a four-and-a-half hour operation
0:06:17 > 0:06:20to reconstruct my face with that wire frame.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Despite 12 lives being lost and 63 others injured, including Stephen,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32the people of Enniskillen responded in a remarkable way.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39What we must do, everybody agreed, was hang together as a community.
0:06:39 > 0:06:45Goodness came through to overcome the power of awful evil.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Do you know what, the response of people was amazing.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53And it was through the response of many Christians at the time
0:06:53 > 0:06:56that I actually began to see that being a Christian was about
0:06:56 > 0:06:58a relationship and faith, it wasn't about facts and knowledge
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and it wasn't about being better than other people.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03It was about being in the midst of where people were at
0:07:03 > 0:07:04and drawing alongside them.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09It really brought home to me the reality of what it was to go
0:07:09 > 0:07:11through a really difficult situation.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16And realise that, actually, some good can come out of it, Claire.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19It's a bit like looking at a piece of a jigsaw.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21When you're in an experience like this
0:07:21 > 0:07:23you can only see that one piece.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26It's not until years after the event, and you can look back,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28you can see the bigger picture.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33That's not to say that I don't get flashbacks of it,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37it's not to say I still have to deal with stress or depression,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41I still have to deal with those things ongoing, Claire.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44But my Christian faith helps me to rise above those situations.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I live for a living saviour who's gone through the same
0:07:47 > 0:07:50experiences that I have and has conquered those things,
0:07:50 > 0:07:53helps me, as a Christian, to overcome.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30On that November morning in 1987, 20-year-old Marie Wilson
0:10:30 > 0:10:33went to the cenotaph in Enniskillen with her father Gordon.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35He was injured in the blast.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Marie lost her life.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Gordon died in 1995.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43His widow Joan still vividly remembers
0:10:43 > 0:10:45the day they lost their daughter.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49The shock was enormous.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55Gordon was sitting with his shoulder dislocated
0:10:55 > 0:10:56in great pain.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01It was my painful duty to go down and tell him
0:11:01 > 0:11:03that Marie had passed away.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11And on the way home from hospital he said to all of us in the car,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16my son driving, my daughter beside me,
0:11:16 > 0:11:21"Let's try and be as dignified and as brave as we can
0:11:21 > 0:11:24"in the coming days."
0:11:27 > 0:11:30The family's reaction would, in fact, have an impact
0:11:30 > 0:11:33around the world, thanks mainly to an interview Gordon gave
0:11:33 > 0:11:35less than 24 hours after the bomb.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40I bear no ill will to anybody nor does my wife.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It must be very difficult for you not to feel bitter towards those
0:11:44 > 0:11:48who were responsible for leaving that bomb.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51I prayed for them last night,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53sincerely.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57And I hope I get the grace to continue to do so.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Father Brian knows the family well.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06He didn't come in and say, "I immediately forgive people."
0:12:06 > 0:12:08He never did say that.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11He said, "I hold no grudge against them.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14"I am not the judge, God is the judge of these people."
0:12:14 > 0:12:17And for me, that taught me that greatest lesson
0:12:17 > 0:12:19I've ever known about forgiveness.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Forgiveness isn't a flippant word, it isn't an instant.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Forgiveness is a lifetime's process.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31About a week after Marie died,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34I just thought, "I can't go on like this,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37"I just miss her so much."
0:12:37 > 0:12:41And did my usual scripture.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45And the reading from 1 Peter...
0:12:47 > 0:12:50..chapter 4, verse 12 was this,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54"Dear friends", and that stunned me
0:12:54 > 0:12:57because I thought God's listening, he does hear me.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04SHE READS:Do not be surprised at the fiery trial you are suffering,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08as though something strange were happening to you.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11But rejoice...
0:13:11 > 0:13:15And I stopped there, I said, "No, I cannot rejoice.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20"How can I rejoice with this dear girl...
0:13:21 > 0:13:24"..gone from us?"
0:13:24 > 0:13:26And then I read on.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35so that you may be overjoyed
0:13:35 > 0:13:38when his glory is revealed.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42I knew then that God cared for us,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46he knew what we were suffering and that carried me along.
0:13:49 > 0:13:50It was a turning point.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53In time, the influence of Gordon Wilson
0:13:53 > 0:13:57and the influence of Enniskillen changed the whole picture
0:13:57 > 0:14:00in Northern Ireland, and it gave people like
0:14:00 > 0:14:03John Hume and John Major, Bertie Ahern and Bill Clinton,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05all the others who came into it,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Gordon Wilson showed us how it was to be done.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09But what a price he and Joan paid for it.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11What a price.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15She was gripping my hand very tightly.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17I was bleeding from the forehead, I knew I'd hurt myself.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22But I was assured that she was all right, she told me twice.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25She told me again, but she still was screaming in-between times
0:14:25 > 0:14:28and I couldn't understand why, on the one hand, she was telling me
0:14:28 > 0:14:31she was all right, on the other hand she was screaming.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35When I asked her for the fourth or fifth time, she said,
0:14:35 > 0:14:36"Daddy, I love you very much."
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Those were the last words she spoke.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42I shall never forget them.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50# I didn't know that today would be our last
0:14:53 > 0:14:58# Or that I'd have to say goodbye to you so fast
0:15:01 > 0:15:05# I'm so numb, I can't feel any more
0:15:07 > 0:15:13# Praying you'd just walk back through that door
0:15:15 > 0:15:20# And tell me that I was only dreaming
0:15:22 > 0:15:27# You're not really gone as long as I believe
0:15:28 > 0:15:32# There will be another angel
0:15:33 > 0:15:36# Around the throne tonight
0:15:37 > 0:15:40# Your love lives on inside me
0:15:40 > 0:15:43# And I will hold on tight
0:15:44 > 0:15:48# It's not my place to question
0:15:48 > 0:15:50# Only God knows why
0:15:53 > 0:15:56# I'm just jealous of the angels
0:15:57 > 0:15:59# Around the throne tonight
0:16:01 > 0:16:04# God must need another angel
0:16:05 > 0:16:07# Around the throne tonight
0:16:09 > 0:16:12# Your love lives on inside of me
0:16:12 > 0:16:14# And I will hold on tight
0:16:16 > 0:16:19# It's not my place to question
0:16:19 > 0:16:22# Only God knows why
0:16:24 > 0:16:27# I'm just jealous of the angels
0:16:29 > 0:16:31# Around the throne tonight
0:16:32 > 0:16:38# Singing hallelujah
0:16:40 > 0:16:45# Hallelujah
0:16:48 > 0:16:53# Hallelujah
0:16:56 > 0:17:00# I'm just jealous of the angels
0:17:01 > 0:17:04# Around the throne
0:17:04 > 0:17:06# Tonight. #
0:17:13 > 0:17:18Today is also when we remember the huge loss of life in two world wars.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21The pain for some bereaved families was made worse
0:17:21 > 0:17:24because the bodies of their loved ones were not found.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Sean Fletcher has been finding out more.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Ronald Blackham went off to fight in the Second World War as a teenager.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38His sister Alma was only six when the dreaded telegram came.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44I went with Mum to the door and he passed it to her
0:17:44 > 0:17:47and she just lifted it up and looked at it
0:17:47 > 0:17:49and collapsed on the floor in front of me.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52What did it say?
0:17:52 > 0:17:54It just said "missing, presumed dead".
0:17:55 > 0:17:57And her reaction...?
0:17:57 > 0:17:58Suffered a severe stroke.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01She couldn't speak for six weeks.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05She never really recovered.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11The family had received bad news about Ronald
0:18:11 > 0:18:14but you didn't know where he was, you didn't know what had happened.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17No.Did the not knowing make it harder?Definitely.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21We didn't know where to go, no celebration of his life.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27But the story took a dramatic turn just last year
0:18:27 > 0:18:31when Alma's family got a letter from the Ministry of Defence telling
0:18:31 > 0:18:34them of a discovery on a Second World War battlefield in Italy.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37The Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre
0:18:37 > 0:18:40were informed by the British Embassy of remains.
0:18:40 > 0:18:4412 soldiers were missing from that battle.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48We then took DNA from the remains in country
0:18:48 > 0:18:53and we then looked at tracing family and an appropriate DNA donor.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58A mouth swab was taken from a family member to compare to the DNA
0:18:58 > 0:19:00sample from the remains.
0:19:00 > 0:19:01It was a clear match.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Alma's nephew Mike was the first to get the news.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I came up to see Alma and brought some flowers.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Erm... And it was all very emotional.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16We all stood there, the three of us, Chris and him,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19crying our eyes out in the middle of the kitchen floor.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27With Ronald identified last summer, 20 members of his family made
0:19:27 > 0:19:32the journey to Italy to attend his funeral 74 years after he fell.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39It was a tremendous honour to conduct Ronald's funeral.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42It was a tremendously moving day.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45To see the family gathered there to really remember
0:19:45 > 0:19:48one of their own, who paid the ultimate sacrifice
0:19:48 > 0:19:52in the business of war for the purposes of peace.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56All the service that went with it, six guys carrying the coffin
0:19:56 > 0:19:58and one walking in front with the cap badge on there,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02it was brilliant.It was. Couldn't have been better.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04It made you so proud.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10All that emotions over the years, wondering how and why,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and that's put an end to it.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19He is at last resting in peace and I know he's safe.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16John James Chalmers served in Helmand as a Royal Marine
0:22:16 > 0:22:18in 42 Commando.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20But in May 2011,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23he sustained devastating injuries in a bomb blast.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25But he didn't let it hold him back.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Going on to represent his country, he won four medals, including gold,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31at the Invictus Games.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Sean went to meet him in Edinburgh.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36This was my dad's church when I was a kid.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39In fact, I was kind of, not literally born here,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42but I was born into the manse here, the first kid ever.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45The pulpit here, that was a rocket ship when I was a kid.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47SEAN LAUGHS
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Because my old man was a minister, you know,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52this was his office, as far as I was concerned.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56In 2011, your life was changed,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59turned completely upside down in Afghanistan.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Can you talk to us a bit about that day?
0:23:01 > 0:23:04We had to go out on patrol every single day, meet the locals
0:23:04 > 0:23:09and try and deliver them a better quality of life, basically.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13And one particular day we were tasked with going into a
0:23:13 > 0:23:17bomb-making factory to try and shut that operation down, effectively.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Getting those things off the street was, you know...
0:23:20 > 0:23:23I have immense pride that we were trying to do that.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Anyway, we were in this compound, I was talking to my friend
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and then the next thing I know I'm on my back in more pain
0:23:28 > 0:23:30than I've ever experienced in my life.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33JJ's patrol had inadvertently triggered
0:23:33 > 0:23:35an improvised explosive device.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40The biggest part of my injuries was to my arms.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43They were pretty well torn off on that day.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46On top of that, my face was crushed and reconstructed.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49My legs were full of holes and full of infection, that was
0:23:49 > 0:23:52the sort of thing that might have most killed me in the early stages.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56You know, I am physically disabled now,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59I'm restricted in some of the things I can do but, you know,
0:23:59 > 0:24:01it's incredible what the surgeons have been able to do
0:24:01 > 0:24:03in reconstructing them.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05It took the best part of five years to do that.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09And so, at the point where I kind of wake up
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and think about it a few days later, I remember thinking,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15"Wait a minute, there were other people hurt in that incident.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17"Where are they?"
0:24:17 > 0:24:19At that point I'm told two of my friends
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and our Afghan interpreter had been killed in the blast.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25JJ's friends, who were killed that day,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27were Lieutenant Oliver Augustin
0:24:27 > 0:24:30and Marine Samuel Alexander.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32To protect his surviving family,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34we cannot identify their Afghan interpreter.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38This blast was, you know,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40horrific enough that it's taken three people's lives.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44If there was ever a reason to keep going, this is it.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Every day a stack of cards would arrive.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54They were from church communities mainly and they were just saying,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57"Listen, we're here and we're rooting for you.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59"We've heard what's happened and we're praying for you."
0:24:59 > 0:25:03So, for me, that was this moment of, "You're not on your own
0:25:03 > 0:25:08"and here's somebody else who's taking time and effort
0:25:08 > 0:25:10"out of their life to wish you better.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15"So there's another reason to make sure you're going to stare down
0:25:15 > 0:25:17"the odds and come back from this stronger."
0:25:19 > 0:25:23It's Remembrance Sunday. Has this day taken on a new significance
0:25:23 > 0:25:25since that dreadful day in 2011?
0:25:25 > 0:25:28In some respects, every single day has become more poignant
0:25:28 > 0:25:32because there's not a single day that I don't think about my friends
0:25:32 > 0:25:34who lost their lives.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37But actually, it's not just about not forgetting,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40it's about truly having a moment to reflect and remember.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44But, for me, all of a sudden it becomes far more personal
0:25:44 > 0:25:47because, when I look at a memorial and you read the names,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50there is no denying that's entirely changed
0:25:50 > 0:25:54when all of a sudden it's happened to somebody you know.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11And there's more thoughts on those lost over the generations
0:28:11 > 0:28:15in this poem for remembrance by Christian poet Dai Woolridge.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22To the trench diggers, barbed-wire bargers and front-foot chargers
0:28:22 > 0:28:27To the privates, lieutenants and camped-at-war tenants
0:28:27 > 0:28:30To the ones who didn't make it back alive
0:28:30 > 0:28:33May they know John 11:35.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37To those who know loss of their soulmate
0:28:37 > 0:28:40To the ones who not yet know their fates
0:28:40 > 0:28:44To the thinkers, feelers and mind-blockers
0:28:44 > 0:28:47To the bedridden and rage-driven
0:28:47 > 0:28:50To the unforgiving and unforgiven
0:28:50 > 0:28:54To those whose joy was long left behind
0:28:54 > 0:28:56May they know John 11:35.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01To those who fight for what is right
0:29:01 > 0:29:04To those who long to reunite
0:29:04 > 0:29:06To those who know their time is close
0:29:06 > 0:29:09To those who know that pain the most
0:29:09 > 0:29:11To those who feel there's nothing left
0:29:11 > 0:29:14To those fighting until their final breath
0:29:15 > 0:29:18To the cancer bearers and the cancer carers
0:29:18 > 0:29:22To the Last Post players and hopeless full swayers
0:29:22 > 0:29:25To the light searchers
0:29:25 > 0:29:29May they find at the end of the tunnel is John 11:35.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33To those who brave with lung-filled pain
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Or wonder why the world is still the same
0:29:37 > 0:29:40To those who've given up on faith
0:29:40 > 0:29:42To the ones that feel that nowhere's safe
0:29:42 > 0:29:46To the ones who see through a suffering mist
0:29:46 > 0:29:49To the ones that doubt God exists
0:29:49 > 0:29:54To the screamers, tearers and silent speakers
0:29:54 > 0:29:57To the guilt-built and shame-keepers
0:29:57 > 0:30:01May they know that he weeps with us
0:30:02 > 0:30:05To those who replay trauma in their mind
0:30:05 > 0:30:09May they know John 11:35.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15May we all know John 11:35.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23We come now to our final hymn as we remember those
0:30:23 > 0:30:26who have gone before us and the sacrifices they made.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29The words provide great comfort as we ask God to be with us
0:30:29 > 0:30:32whatever we may face.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34From Enniskillen, goodbye.