Family of Winston Cross to remember ‘beautiful brother’ on 50th anniversary of IRA murders
The family of Winston Cross remembered him this week as a ‘happy-go-lucky’ young man who was robbed of a bright future when he was shot dead by the IRA in November 1974.
A plaque will be unveiled in his memory at a Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving at All Saints’ Clooney on Monday, November 11, at 7pm.
Winston, from the Glen Estate, was 18 when he was abducted and murdered by the IRA fifty years ago.
His body was discovered alongside that of his best friend Joseph ‘Bert’ Slater on November 11, 1974, at Sheriff’s Mountain. Bert, from Springtown Road, was 29.
In a poignant statement the Cross family remembered their loved one as his 50th anniversary approaches.
“Our Winston was a happy-go-lucky lad. He liked to play practical jokes, and we were all the butt of them at times, he was a young man full of life and he had such a bright future ahead of him.
“We were a family who mixed across the community, Winston like the rest of us was reared with Catholics. Our own parents came from both sides of the traditional divide.
“Winston’s dream was to join the Army, he wanted to do his bit in serving the country and the community, but more so he wanted to travel the world, and he would’ve taken to Army life, we have no doubt he would have risen through the ranks as he was a bright young man, and he was streetwise,” they stated.
The Cross family recalled how Winston’s father served with the Inniskilling Fusiliers and Territorial Army, where he was Regimental Sergeant Major.
"He was a tough man, and we probably didn’t experience a great deal of love from him as we grew up; he was particularly tough on the boys, he almost saw them as his own young Privates,” the family said.
At the time of his murder Winston had been on the verge of signing up, they said.
“Winston was only 18 years old when he was murdered.
"He worked in Ebrington Barracks as a painter and he was leaving his work one Friday in November 1974. He planned to join the regular army on the Tuesday of the following week.
“When he didn’t come home on that Friday night, my mother presumed he had gone out for a drink with friends. His best friend, Joseph Slater, (known as Bert) was with him. They never came home.
“The Provisional IRA had abducted both of them from a bar across the border. They were taken to Buncrana and tortured for three days. Then, they were hooded and shot on Sheriff’s Mountain. They were then discarded at the side of the road, with black bin-bags over their heads.
“At first, the Provisional IRA said that he was an informer for the military, because he worked in Ebrington Barracks. Then they said that it was a case of mistaken identity, and they apologised for taking him and shooting him. That part is hard to take.
“The truth is that they murdered our beautiful brother and his friend Bert, and they didn’t care less the carnage they would cause through their actions,” they said.
Next Monday, the life of Winston Cross will be celebrated at All Saints’ in a service that will also remember Bert Slater.
“As a family we are deeply indebted to All Saints’ Clooney Parish and to South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) for supporting our efforts to have Winston appropriately remembered within the context of the church.
“To have a plaque installed in the Church referencing civilians murdered because of ‘The Troubles’ from within the Parish means a lot to us, and we hope and pray that we will be joined on the evening of the dedication by people from right across the city and further afield.”