Here Are The Young Men

It may be unpopular to talk about, but what are we doing about the potential trauma experienced by the children of former combatants?

Following on from my recent posts about access to information (or lack thereof) this article I wrote in early 2020 seems relevant again. When we hear about reconciliation and truth recovery, we need to take these voices into account. In my original piece I talked about referring people to open source and archival information. How does the interminable wait for information help these obviously distressed people? Trauma-Informed Practice should be at the heart of ALL processes to furnish people with information about the past. Walls of bureaucracy aren't helping this place move forward.

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As a researcher and writer, I’m a naturally curious person. I want to find out as much as I can about a subject that I am interested in. For the past 20 years or so, that subject has been the Troubles; and loyalism in particular. Having carried out a significant number of oral history interviews with men who were involved in the early convulsions of the Troubles I have gained an invaluable and often very personal insight into the motivations and social situations that made young loyalist men tick in the early 1970s. Very few, if any, of those who I spoke to were destined to become violent people. This was a phenomenon expertly studied by Dr William Mitchell, himself a former UVF prisoner, in his fantastic PhD thesis.[1] The reasons for those young men becoming engaged in violence have been well explored, though there is still much to learn. This isn’t what I’m writing about in this very brief, disjointed, post.

What I want to ruminate on is an even more personal dimension to our Troubles legacy; that of the relationships between former combatants and their children. In particular I have had cause to think long and hard about the relationships between fathers and sons in the constituency of former loyalist combatants.

The reason I have been thinking long and hard about this is because over the past four years, since Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries has been published, I have been contacted by a not insignificant number of young men.

Most of these young men are around about my age (39) or younger and the reason they have contacted me is because they are curious about their fathers. Sometimes their fathers have passed away, sometimes their fathers are still alive, sometimes their fathers are absent.

(Source: Peter Moloney Collection, https://petermoloneycollection.wordpress.com/1988/02/01/northern-island/)

The thing that all these fathers have in common is that they are former UVF men; the thing that binds these young men, their sons, is that they know next to nothing about their fathers’ pasts and it has been causing them agony.

I would never betray a confidence, so will not publish specific details here, but I am concerned that this is an issue that is tied to legacy, mental health and masculinity. I am also worried about the effect it may have on future generations of young men in Northern Ireland.

Here is a brief composite of the kind of message I have received over the past few years:

Hi mate, do you know anything about my dad? His name is xxx xxx and he was in jail. I don’t know what he was in for as he never spoke about it, and none of his friends will tell me. There is a secrecy around it and I just want to know the truth.

As I mentioned, I’m curious about getting to the bottom of things. Sometimes digging to the heart of the matter on issues relating to the Troubles can be sickening and emotionally exhausting.

When I was 12, I discovered that I was adopted and subsequently as an adult I opened a Pandora’s box of secrets which satisfied my curiosity, but left me extremely confused and upset. I know something of what these young men are going through.

My knowledge and understanding of the culture of paramilitary loyalism is one of the main reasons that they have contacted me, and it is an honour to be trusted with that sort of request. I do what I can, and pass on whatever information is available in the public domain.

I send them newspaper articles or refer them to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. I warn them of the potential shock and hurt that can be caused by opening the Pandora’s box. I offer to be a good listener if they ever need to talk.

I have been really heartened recently that the website Her Loyal Voice is giving expression to the views of loyalist women in a way that doesn’t seek to pander to a choreographed situation or an audience expecting to hear a comfortable narrative.

I know that we men are heard loudly and clearly every day, but I think it is also well-established nowadays that sometimes its hard to actually figure out what men are trying to express underneath all the noise and bravado.

The vulnerability shown by these young men, whose fathers were involved in the most violent days of the Troubles, is demonstrative of a troubling phenomenon; that of the lack of communication between a father and son. I have been face to face with a lot of guys who were involved in those bloody days, and I know that it can be extremely difficult for them to open up. None that I have met are boastful about their past. There are things that we all try and hide from our children to protect them, but what happens when a father passes on and takes his secrets to the grave? What happens when a father decides to shut up shop and refuse to discuss the past? Of course, that is their prerogative and I would never come down on one side or the other, but I’ve seen the distress that this wall of silence has caused to young men.

I don’t know what the answer is.

This is, in my opinion, a hidden legacy of the Troubles.

How do we address it?

How do we help these young men and their fathers?

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If you require help, please consider reaching out to someone. Please attend a GP or phone the Samaritans: 116 123 or Life Line: 0808 808 8000

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[1] “Eighteen and a Half Years Old – Ordinary Young Men, Extraordinary Times”: A Biographical Study into the Temporal Life-histories of Former Loyalist Paramilitaries in the Ulster Volunteer Force and its Associated Groups (University of Ulster, Jordanstown, 2012)