18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Miami Showband survivor felt ‘sick' when he saw migrant boat on loyalist bonfire
Des Lee said the shocking 'migrants boat' bonfire was 'a bad taste stunt' and 'racist in the extreme'.
Three members of the band were killed by the UVF on a rural road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down, in 1975.
Miami Showband massacre survivor Des Lee, said that he felt ill after seeing the effigy of refugees placed in a boat on top of a bonfire in Moygashel
Miami Showband Massacre survivor Des Lee said he felt 'sick' when he saw mannequins of migrants in a boat on top of a bonfire in Moygashel.
Police described the offensive effigies as a 'hate crime' but they took no action to remove them and on Thursday night, crowds of onlookers cheered as the bonfire and the boat of 'migrants' went up in flames.
But veteran musician Des Lee – who was wounded when his fellow musicians were gunned down by a UVF gang led by brothers from Moygashel in County Tyrone – said the image proved that some people in the village had not moved on since the attack on his bandmates 50 years ago this month.
Des – whose autobiography My Saxophone Saved My Life hit the shops this week – said the shocking 'migrants boat' bonfire was 'a bad taste stunt' and 'racist in the extreme'.
Moygashel UVF man Wesley Somerville – who died placing a bomb in the Miami Showband's van – was also honoured this week when local loyalists flew a banner bearing his image from a lamppost in the village.
And there's a UVF mural in tribute to Wesley in the town, which has been recently painted.
At the time of his death, 34-year-old William Wesley Somerville was a serving soldier in the Ulster Defence Regiment.
The bonfire in Moygashel
And during the same horror attack five decades ago, Somerville's brother John pumped 22 bullets into Miami lead singer Fran O'Toole's face.
But last night – as he prepared to launch his new book – Miami musician Des posed the question: 'Have loyalists in Moygashel learned nothing in 50 years?'
And directly addressing loyalists in the Tyrone village, he said: 'In our time, the Miami Showband gave their fans hours of happiness and joy. But today – 50 years later – loyalists in Moygashel are still building bonfires of hate. Why?'
The book, My Saxophone Saved My Life – The Miami Showband Massacre and My Quest for Answers, tells the amazing life story of west Belfast boy Des McAlea – as he was known – who went on to make his name in the music business as a leading member of the massively popular Miami Showband.
Five decades ago, the Miami Showband were the most popular entertainment act in Ireland, with legions of fans on both sides of the border.
But a carefully planned UVF gun and bomb attack at Buskhill outside Newry, on July 31 1975, left three band members dead and two others seriously injured.
Miami Showband fell victim to Wesley Sommerville and his UVF gang of killers.
The band were travelling back to Dublin after a successful show in Banbridge when their minibus was stopped by armed men dressed as soldiers. They forced the band members to stand in a line adjacent to a ditch at the side of the road.
Des was concerned about the way the men were moving things around in their vehicle. And he asked permission to remove his saxophone, which was granted. By complete chance, when he returned to the line-up, Des took up a different position. That small decision probably saved his life.
And last night he recalled the moment he lost his band mates and when another three were seriously wounded by gunfire.
'When the bomb went off, I was blown into the ditch and the explosion set it on fire. The gunfire was relentless. But suddenly the noise stopped and the shouting voices disappeared into the distance.
'I was lying next to Stephen Travers, who was badly shot. Then I called out the names of the other lads, but there was no reply.
'I whispered to Stephen I was going to make a run for it to get help. I ran up that ditch like an Olympic athlete and then I saw a sight I never want to see again. There were bits of bodies lying every where. It was horrible that human beings could do that.
"I didn't know it at the time but I saw Wesley Somerville's mutilated body lying next to another UVF man, who had also been blown to bits. I never want to see anything like that again.
'I kept running and when I got to the main road to Newry, I flagged down a lorry, but the driver refused to take me.
A memorial plaque to UVF killer Wesley Somerville in Moygashel
'I then signalled to a car to stop and the couple in it, thank God drove me to Newry. The RUC at Ardmore had no knowledge about what had happened a few miles out the Belfast road. But they soon realised they had a major incident on the hands.
'I was in a state of complete shock and I had bits of shrapnel in my body. The police got a doctor for me. He gave me medication to calm me, but I never took it. I didn't trust anyone.
'After a couple of hours the detectives asked me if there was a girl in the van. I said no, but then it emerged Fran's face was so badly mutilated by the gunfire, the police wondered if the dead body was female,' said Des.
At least four of the Miami Showband attackers were serving members of the British army's Ulster Defence Regiment.
And during an interview with RUC detectives, Des was able to supply a vital piece of information which led the police to positively identifying one of the UVF gunmen.
He said: 'I remembered one of the soldiers was wearing horn-rimmed Buddy Holly-type glasses. And from fragments found on the road, the police managed to trace the prescription and track down one of the gunman.'
UVF serial killer Robin 'The Jackal' Jackson – who had assumed command of the Mid-Ulster UVF days before the Miami Showband Massacre – was also badly burned in the incident.
Three members of the band were killed by the UVF on a rural road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down, in 1975.
In November 1981, Wesley Somerville's brother John was convicted of another unrelated murder and he was also convicted of the three Miami Showband murders.
He was sentenced to 35 years, but served just 18 years behind bars. Somerville was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which he opposed.
Last year the Sunday World revealed details of a prison confession, where Somerville admitted his role in the murder of Fran O'Toole. The young singer and keyboard player had been pursued into a field where John Somerville shot him 22 times in the face.
Somerville told a fellow loyalist prisoner: 'I saw my brother blown to bits in the explosion and I went crazing. I just kept firing wildly.'
After his release from prison, Somerville died of cancer.
Last night, Des Lee explained that there isn't a day passes when he doesn't think of his dead band mates.
He said: 'I relive what happened every day of my life. But when I look at the glorifying of Wesley Somerville and Harris Boyle in Moygashel, I'm just appalled that people can celebrate murder.
'The Miami Showband was made up of people of different faiths. Religion didn't come it.'
He added: 'How can you have a monument to people who murdered innocent young musicians? It beats me.'
