13 November 1997 Edition
Back issue: Frank Stagg's body laid to rest
In the dark hours of last Sunday morning, in the rainswept Leigue cemetery, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Volunteer Frank Staff was honourably laid to rest, with Republican comrades finally handling the remains of his body.
An IRA salute was fired over the Republican Plot where Frank's last wish ``to be buried next to my Republican colleagues and my comrade Michael Gaughan'' was fulfilled. His mother Mrs Stagg said, ``I am glad to have lived to see the day when Frank could finally rest in peace.''
Frank Stagg died whilst on hunger strike for almost 50 days in Wakefield Prison England, at about 6am, on Thursday 12 February 1976. Twenty one months ago the ghouls of the then ruling Free State coalition hijacked his body by diverting the plane carrying his remains to Dublin. At Shannon airport an army helicopter carried off the coffin to Mayo, and at Leigue cemetery it was unhappily interred in an ordinary grave. Members of Frank's family, including his mother, boycotted this calculated desecration and the Republican Movement paid its own respects on Sunday 22 February, pledging that Frank's last wishes would be fulfilled.
An IRA salute was fired over the Republican Plot where Frank's last wish ``to be buried next to my Republican colleagues and my comrade Michael Gaughan'' was fulfilled. His mother Mrs Stagg said, ``I am glad to have lived to see the day when Frank could finally rest in peace.''
Frank Stagg died whilst on hunger strike for almost 50 days in Wakefield Prison England, at about 6am, on Thursday 12 February 1976. Twenty one months ago the ghouls of the then ruling Free State coalition hijacked his body by diverting the plane carrying his remains to Dublin. At Shannon airport an army helicopter carried off the coffin to Mayo, and at Leigue cemetery it was unhappily interred in an ordinary grave. Members of Frank's family, including his mother, boycotted this calculated desecration and the Republican Movement paid its own respects on Sunday 22 February, pledging that Frank's last wishes would be fulfilled.