Lest we forget: McCAIG, Joseph – Royal Highland Fusiliers

Surname: McCaig
First Name: Joseph
Nickname:
Awards:
Number: 24140693
Junior Service Location: Oswestry
Junior Service Date: 1968-69
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Permanent Staff Location:
Permanent Staff Service Date:
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Regiment: Royal Highland Fusiliers
Regular Service Date: 1969-71
Retirement Rank:
Age: 18
Date of Death: 1971 March 10
Gravesite: Ayr Cemetery (Sec ETA, No 2131)
KIA/DIS: Killied In Action
Location: Northern Ireland
Armed Forces Memorial: Yes
Roll of Honour: Yes

Joseph was one of the three Scottish soldiers who were shot by the IRA on a mountain road overlooking Belfast. The huge impact of their killings is still remembered by many as one of the key points in Northern Ireland’s descent into full-scale violence. They were the fourth fifth and sixth soldiers to die but the first to be killed off duty. Two of them Pte Joseph McCaig and his brother John were among the youngest military casualties of the troubles. The other soldier was Douglas McCaughey. They were shot in the head as they stood together on the lonely mountain road. Although it was widely assumed that the three were lured from a bar in the centre of Belfast the inquest was told in August 1971 that the full details of what happened were still not known. It was reported that they and many other soldiers had been drinking off-duty in a bar in Cornmarket in central Belfast during the day. Although soldiers later became much more careful in their movements at that time such off-duty drinking was quite common occurrence. A Belfast telegraph editorial commented ‘ after all the horrors of recent weeks and months Ulster people have almost lost the capacity for feeling shock. But the ruthless murder of three defenceless young soldiers has cut to the quick. These were cold-blooded executions for purely political reasons. As the funerals took place in Scotland an estimated 20 000 people out in Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim to attend rallies in sympathy. In Belfast a crowd estimated by police to number more than 10 000 gathered at the cenotaph at the city. City-centre traffic came to a halt as they poured into the grounds of the city hall to lay wreaths. Workers marched there from a number of factories. The Belfast telegraph reported: “The Belfast marchers walked in silent lines many weeping openly. They came from the Shankill Crumlin Road Oldpark Donegall Road and York Street areas. They were joined by hundreds of workers from the city’s big industrial firms. They cheered when the Rev Ian Paisley walked forward through the crowds of weeping men and women to lead the wreath-laying. Dozens of wreaths including one shaped in the form of a cross with white flowers were laid one by one. The crowd cheered again when the shipyard workers came with their wreaths. Mr Paisley then announced two minutes’ silence and the noise of the crowd died away. Afterwards they sang a hymn and the national anthem.’ The home secretary Reginald Maudling told the commons that the security forces were having successes against terrorism adding: “It is a small minority of armed ruthless men whose strength lies not so much in their numbers as in their wickedness. The McCaig brothers lived at Westwood Avenue in Ayr. Their 20-year old brother who was serving in Singapore with the Royal Marines was flown home for their funerals. Their bodies were first found by children. One of them a boy of 12 said: “We were just standing there frightened and not knowing what to do. Two men came along and one of them touched the head of a man who was lying over another. His head fell back and the man said they are stone dead.” the inquest was told that all three were shot at very close range and probably in a line at White Brae Squire’s Hill Ligoniel. All had been drinking. John McCaig was only slightly intoxicated but his brother Joseph was said to have been severely intoxicated. Douglas McCaughey was said to be intoxicated to some extent. The coroner told the inquest jury: “We don’t know the full details of how these young men came to be there. You may think that they were met in the city by someone or some people who pretended to be their friends. You have heard how beer glasses were found at the scene. We have also heard that they were probably relieving themselves when they were shot standing besides each other. You may think that this was not only murder but one of the vilest crimes ever heard in living memory.’ In May 1972 the mother of the two brothers visited the scene of their death. In August that year she said she had been touched by the fact that a number of people had left memorials and wreaths at the spot. She said she had wanted to place a monument there consisting of a bible made of stone but had been advised it might be damaged by vandals. According to local rumours in North Belfast one of those involved in the killings was IRA member Patrick McAdorey who was shot dead in August 1971. Another of the killers was reputedly living in the republic of Ireland.
Joseph was the 67th person to be killed in the recent troubles.