Ian John McKay, VC (7 May 1953 – 12 June 1982) was a British Army soldier and a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

forces. Born in Wortley, near

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, South Yorkshire, McKay was the eldest of the three sons of Kenneth John McKay, a steel worker, and Freda Doreen Hargreaves. He was educated at Rotherham Grammar School. McKay left school at seventeen and in August 1970 enlisted in the Army, training as a paratrooper. Posted to the 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (1 Para) in early 1971, he served in Northern Ireland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. On 30 January 1972, McKay was part of a patrol on the streets of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

involved in the killing of unarmed civilians known as Bloody Sunday. In official reports concerning the massacre he is referred to as Soldier T. An inquiry concluded that McKay was likely responsible for firing the shot which wounded Patrick Brolly. However, the inquiry determined that he was the only soldier present who had not fired indiscriminately, had a valid reason to fire, and had not intended to shoot Brolly. The inquiry found that if he did fire the shots which wounded Brolly, he unintentionally hit him while aiming at another man who was throwing bottles containing acid at him. By April 1982 he was platoon sergeant of 4 Platoon, B

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

, 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and deployed with his unit for service in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. He was killed during the Battle of Mount Longdon, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Citation

After initial burial in the Falklands, McKay was later brought home, and on 26 November 1982 he was re-buried with full military honours at Aldershot Military Cemetery.

The medal

McKay's medals were sold by his wife around the year 1989, and his VC is now on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

, London.

Legacy

The Territorial Army centre in Sgt McKay's home town of Rotherham is named "McKay VC Barracks", also an accommodation block at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham was named McKay House in his honour. In mid October 2011, the Sergeants and Warrant Officers bar at MPA, Falkland Islands, was renamed as "Ian McKay VC Bar" in his honour. The McKay VC Gymnasium is a gym facility and sports hall located across the football fields at Vimy Barracks, Catterick Garrison. A facility that oversees the training of recruits from The Parachute Regiment and other Units. McKay was profiled in the 2006 television

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

Victoria Cross Heroes ''Victoria Cross Heroes'' is a three-part television UK docudrama recipients first broadcast by Channel 5 in 2006 that tells the stories of some of the recipients of the Victoria Cross. Production The series was commissioned to celebrate the ...

'', which included archive footage, dramatisations of his actions and an interview with his mother. The

Bloody Sunday Inquiry The Bloody Sunday Inquiry, also known as the Saville Inquiry or the Saville Report after its chairman, Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after campaigns for a second inquiry by families of t ...

found that, of the soldiers who fired upon civilians, Private T (McKay) was the only one to do so with plausible cause if he was responsible for shooting Patrick Brolly and injuring him.

References

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Hampshire)''
Falklands Hero: Ian McKay – Warfare Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Ian 1953 births 1982 deaths People from Wortley, South Yorkshire British Parachute Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of the Falklands War British recipients of the Victoria Cross Burials at Aldershot Military Cemetery British military personnel killed in the Falklands War British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Military personnel from South Yorkshire