Death
Despite his degree, he was unable to obtain a proper job that paid a decent salary. On the night of 24–25 September after composing a four-page letter of explanation and naming himself a "victim of the Troubles", Billy Giles hanged himself in his living room. He was 41 years old. Peter Taylor visited Giles' family in east Belfast on the eve of the funeral. He described Billy as lying in the coffin wearing his best suit, and his UVF badge with the inscribed words "For God and Ulster" was pinned to his lapel. One of his last lines in his letter read, "Please let the next generation live normal lives". This line was quoted during a speech given by Colm Cavanagh, Vice-President of The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland on 3 March 2006 to The Department of Education.
Giles is commemorated, along with other prominent Loyalist paramilitaries, in the controversial UVF song Battalion of the Dead.
Read more about this topic: Billy Giles
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“... while many people pride themselves, and with no exaggeration, on their ability to hear with sympathy of the downfall, sickness, and death of others, very few people seem to know what to do with a report of joy, happiness, good luck.”
—Jessamyn West (1902–1984)
“The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)