Lance Corporal 24199600 John F Alexander BURNS Ex-UDR. Shot dead 30 October 1993 (the eve of Halloween) by the two UFF gun men wearing boiler suits and balaclavas and carrying an AK-47 rifle and a Browning 9mm automatic pistol. His wife was shot and badly wounded in the attack. He was one of seven people killed when two UFF gunmen opened fire in the Rising sun lounge and restaurant at Greysteel in retaliation for the IRA’s Shankill Road bombing. An eighth person died later, he was an ex member of the B Special’s.
A witness said: ‘he was on his way to the toilet when they arrived. They came in through the door and shouted “Trick or treat,” he started to laugh and shout, but then he was hit in the stomach. He was in a very bad way. John was lying there and he told me everything would be all right and told me to look after his daughter and make sure she was okay. I bent down and kissed him on the head and told him he was going to be all right, but I knew he was dying because he was so cold. It was awful. John’s sons were aged 19 and 16 and his daughter was 14 at the time of the Murder. He was aged 54 and resided at St Canice’s Park Eglington.
He is commemorated on Memorial at Ballykelly churchyard, Main Street, County Londonderry.
Also commemorated on a tree memorial plaque at the UDR Memorial Ulster Ash Grove, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.
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