A schoolboy's memories of the devastation of his beloved hometown... For Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1, listen to Omagh, August 1998 by Michael Kelly above.
It was the finest of fresh summer days. We had just returned from our annual family holidays in the west of Ireland. My father and my younger brother had gone to town. I don't recall the particular nature of the message - something to do with the imminent back-to-school preparations no doubt. Looking back, it hardly matters.
I was at home with my mother when we heard the almost subdued but unmistakeable sound of a bomb explosion. Growing up in the north of Ireland in the 1980's you knew that sound.
"Oh be careful, come away from the window" my mother instructed. She was a veteran of paramilitary bombings...
Listen to more from Sunday Miscellany here.
