The funeral of John ‘Stylo’ Curran

John ‘Stylo’ Curran

REPUBLICANS across the north-west gathered on 17 September in the Brandywell area of Derry to carry a great friend and comrade of the republican struggle, John ‘Stylo’ Curran, to his last resting place.
John joined the Republican Movement in the early 1970s, after Bloody Sunday. Having spent several years in the 26-County Army, John felt that the Irish Government had stood by while the nationalist people of the North were being slaughtered. This he was not prepared to do so he made his way back to his native city and joined the IRA.
Stylo became a very dedicated activist in Derry, parts of which were then no-go areas for the British Army and the RUC up until August 1972.
In 1974, he was arrested and interned with several other Derry republicans. He was amongst a group that would have been taken to Long Kesh but for it being burned. He was, instead, taken to Ballykelly military camp, where brutality was routinely practised, including against Stylo.
When internment ended, Stylo was in one of the last groups of internees to be released. He reported back to the Republican Movement.
Imprisonment was no stranger to Stylo and he ended up in jail once more in 1978. He was eventually sentenced to seven years in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh, where he joined the Blanket Protest for the restoration of political status. Stylo remained resolute with the rest of his comrades until he was acquitted of the charges he faced in 1980. He never forgot the people he left behind. He spoke at meetings, organised fund-raisers on behalf of the prisoners and took to the streets in protest at the prisoners’ conditions.
 
GUN BATTLE
1981 was a year that stands out in all of our lives but it was one that totally changed Stylo’s because it was this year that he lost two of his close friends and comrades, Volunteers Charles Maguire and George McBrearty, who were both killed in an exchange of gunfire with the SAS near the Creggan estate.
Stylo had had the honour, along with Charles ‘Pop’ Maguire and others, of being part of the guard of honour at the funeral of County Derry hunger striker Francis Hughes.
During the 1981 period, undercover operations by the British Army and RUC were the norm in nationalist areas of Derry City so people were always on their guard for suspicious activity. Following reports of a possible spy-post in the Creggan area, Stylo and his comrades, heavily armed, went to investigate and ended up in a major gun battle with British soldiers hidden at several locations in the Central Drive area. Stylo, although pinned down by gunfire, was able to shoot his way out, receiving several bullet wounds to his body but still successfully evading the Brit follow-up operation.
He was taken across the border, where he spent several months recuperating before setting up home with his wife, Bernie, and their daughter, Shauna. He was advised to take some rest away from the struggle for a while but he continued to do as much work for the Republican Movement in the greater Donegal area as was possible.
As the months turned into years, Stylo integrated himself into the Buncrana community and their way of life, becoming well-known in the area not only as an active republican through his work with the local Sinn Féin structures but also as a keen footballer and sportsman, organising many football, darts and quiz leagues, proving what an all-rounder he was.
Stylo Curran never forgot where he came from, what he had been through, or who he represented in his life. He was a proud Irish republican who could always fight his own corner and never let himself or the republican struggle down.
We are proud to have known him and we are honoured to have had him as a good friend and comrade.
The Republican Movement extends its deepest sympathy to his wife Bernie; daughters Shauna and Bronagh in Buncrana; his mum and dad, Harry and May in Derry; brother Bernard, Buncrana; and the wider Curran family; and his close friends and comrades in both Derry and Inishowen.