
William Johnston Beacom
Died
:
17 February 1994
Age
:
30
Rank
:
Constable
Force
:
Royal Ulster Constabulary
Cause
:
Homicide - Bomb
Duty Status
:
On Duty
Roll of Honour Citation
Fatally injured when terrorists fired a horizontal rocket at the RUC Land Rover he was driving.
The attack occurred at 3:00pm when members of the Neighbourhood Policing Unit were on mobile patrol driving along Friendly Street in the Markets district of Belfast.
The terrorists fired a warhead from a homemade rocket launcher into an RUC Land Rover. The device struck the driver’s door and exploded, killing Constable Beacom and injuring two other police officers.
A man who had been delivering leaflets for a nearby church said he heard the explosion and saw the policemen climbing out of the Land Rover.
He said that “they were really shocked. They were frightened and shocked and I assured them that I was there to help them and I got into the Land Rover and I held the policeman. I asked his colleague what was his name. He told me it was Johnston and I kept pleading with him to “hold on Johnston, hold on, and hold on, Jesus loves you”. I got in behind him and I held his head and I held his arms and his hands and I held them around him and that’s the only consolation I could give him, to talk and call the name of Jesus to him. That’s the only thing I could do for him. He wasn’t able to say anything. He died before the ambulance came”.
William was survived by his wife and their three children.