Stephen Travers

The Miami Showband Massacre - 31.07.1975

The Miami Showband were a popular group performing throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, achieving seven number one records on the Irish Singles Chart. Whilst travelling back to Dublin late at night after a performance in Bainbridge, their minibus was stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint. Members of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, dressed in British Army Uniforms, ordered the band to line up for inspection. When a timebomb hidden by the gunmen onboard the minibus exploded prematurely, they opened fire on the band - killing three and wounding two.

Stephen Travers was struck by a ‘dum-dum’ bullet, the fragments of which collapsed his lung. Years later he went on to co-found the Truth and Reconciliation Platform (TaRP), established to give victims of the Troubles an opportunity to speak for themselves, regardless of their political, religious or cultural background. You can read more on their work and navigate to their website by clicking on their logo below.