Written By Paul Boomer: 26th August 2011
Half my lifetime ago
I hope that in reading this you may be able to get a better understanding of the difficulties and psychological problems that arose. All be it a brief and abridged version.
For those of you who know me and those who don’t that are reading this testimonial I thank you for your continued interest and support. With it I hope we can find the answers we are looking for. It may be a long road but to travel it alone would accomplish little, so no matter how long it takes every visit for this website is a step in the right direction on that road.
'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. (Margaret Mead)'
Hello friends, family and guests thank you for your time. The title of this testimonial is for me how long ago the events of December 3rd 1995 happened.
For those of you who are newly acquainted with this story please let me assure you that seeking the truth is not for compensation or damages, because the damage has been done. To simply have the truth would be the greatest payment any of us could receive in our lifetime and this is all we seek. My Grandfather, Cormac Boomer, worked diligently to try and find out exactly what happened to my father and the other passengers. Unfortunately his efforts bore little fruit and sadly he has passed away in May of 2008. His hard work and dedication shall only serve as a beacon of hope and determination in our cause.
My name is Paul Boomer, the eldest son of Desmond and Mandy Boomer, brother to Patricia, Erin, Sarah and Daniel. Desmond, my father, was a passenger aboard the ill fated Piper lance 9H-ABU aircraft, which allegedly disappeared off the coast of Tunisia on 3rd December 1995. I use the term allegedly because quite frankly we don’t actually know exactly why, how, or even if the events happened. Nor can we be certain that the subsequent explanations of that fateful day are true, as we have been led and silenced to some extent to believe as the truth.
I am 30 years old and life these days is as fleeting as ever, as time seems to pass quicker and quicker everyday. It is a source of deep frustration, anger and sadness to think that the families of those aboard Piper Lance 9H-ABU have had to, and continue to, endure such hardships and pain to simply seek and know the truth.
I was very young when my father passed away and I use that term very loosely. Had I known the truth would lay buried this long, I could ill conceive such a possibility existed. Nor could any of us as we had every faith that the truth would surface and had no real reason to believe otherwise. I mean why would we. A hard working dedicated family man coming home to see his family, along with five other family men, mysteriously vanish without a trace...you would think and hope would evoke enough patriotism and unity with at least some of the countries involved to put the matter to rest as soon as possible and give the families involved some closure and peace in their lives.
It would soon become painfully obvious that the lives of these men and their families were of little consequence to the governments and countries involved. It would appear that to this day this is still the case.
My Grandfather was a counsellor for the SDLP in Belfast for over 20 years and received no help from the Irish or British governments, his pleas for help fell on deaf ears. Most of his colleagues didn’t even take the time to offer a reply. A sad show of support for someone who worked in politics for such a long period of time. I believe that all the governments involved should be held accountable for their ignorance to the severity of the events and frightfully quick acceptance of the evidence and explanations given.
The fact that no bodies nor any human remains were ever found, there was no luggage that surfaced on impact, should it actually have occurred? No slick from fuel or other vital fluids from the aircraft were present at the time of impact. None of this seemed out of the ordinary apparently. Do these sorts of tragedies happen that often that this is a normal thing to occur? I find it impossible to believe and a very jagged truth to swallow. Yet here we sit.
On December 3rd 1995 I was expecting my father to be coming home and was feverishly trying to finish my cigarettes before he did so. Before he left for his flight to Libya for his last stint of work, on the morning he left the last thing he ever said to me was, “these things will do you no good son”, as he had procured my cigarettes from their hiding place before I was awake. He looked at me with a wry smile and put them in his pocket and said, “love you son see you when I get back”. I smiled to myself, half shamed but half in good humor and said, “I know they’ll do me no good sorry dad, love you too see you when you get back” and with a final wry smile of my own I put my head back down on my pillow and went to sleep. That would be the last time I would speak to him face to face.
The time came and went with no word of him landing, of course, I just thought that it was flight delays so I went on about my day. When the police arrived at my door later that afternoon I thought to myself, “Oh great what have I done now, dad isn’t even home yet and there’s trouble waiting for him”. But it wasn’t me they were looking for. Relieved, I went to hang out with my mates and play some pool and snooker. With the absence of mobile phones at the time I was not able to be reached and by the time I was home later that night I once again saw a police car at my front door and it was then I knew something was wrong. I didn’t know what had happened but I knew it was that feeling of pure dread.
I walked into my living room and there were two police officers sitting with the rest of my family. I was asked to sit down and they broke the news to me. Stunned, in tears and shock, I tried to take it in, I couldn’t, it was so surreal. Shortly thereafter my friends called at the door and I told them the news and went outside for a bit to clear my head or at least try to. Falling asleep that night I had hope that his plane was just “lost” as we had been told and that gave me enough comfort to sleep.
The next couple of days were a blur, so many family and friends came to lend their support to us and my relatives, it was amazing and to this day I thank you all, for the tins of biccies and selection boxes too (I have a big grin on my face as I write this part). As the weeks and months wore on, life inevitably went on as normally as the situation would allow. For me and my siblings, being so young it was hard to comprehend everything and there was little we could do to help but hope and pray, which we did. My mum, now with five children to raise did an amazing job with us all. As the first few years went by I went completely off the rails and I did not make her life easy, I became a very troubled and angry young man. But with her strength and love she pulled me back onto the straight and narrow, somehow she pulled us all through, few if any could do what she did under the circumstances. To this day and for always she will be the most amazing woman in my life.
The court hearings came and went as the years went by, with no help from the governments of the countries involved and questions just leading to more questions and this only aided in the dousing of the tiny flame on the candle of hope which we all held, but it never went out. Nor shall it.
I thank you for your time in reading this and I look forward to your responses and discussions which may result. Thank you again also for your continued support and interest.
Paul Boomer