A few clusters of people gathered at the junction of William Street and Rossville Street in Derry yesterday, quietly observing Lord Saville, Mr Justice William Hoyt and Sir Edward Somers getting the lie of the land.
This is where it all happened, where 27 people were shot in an area of about 100 yards radius 26 years ago, 14 of them dying from their injuries. The people looked on, remembering.
Thirty or 40 yards away was the Bloody Sunday memorial, on the site of the old Rossville Flats where nine people were killed by the British army, some at the scene by the Parachute Regiment, others possibly from sniper fire by the Royal Anglian Regiment from high up at Derry's historic walls.
Across the road was Glenfada Park where four others were shot dead as they fled from the advancing paratroopers. Some of the bullet marks are still evident on the walls. The 14th victim died later in hospital.
Thirteen people were wounded on the day. Unlike during the Widgery inquiry, when the wounded were not called to give evidence, those surviving this time will have a chance to give their version of events on Sunday, January 30th, 1972.
The Rossville flats are long demolished, and much of William Street is also gone. The three judges who were accompanied by a local council engineer took it all in, getting their perspective on a grim day in Anglo-Irish history.
Mr Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was killed in Glenfada Park, was reserving judgment on the tribunal. "They're talking about possible immunity for the British soldiers. That's something that I would have concerns about." But he'd wait and see how the inquiry unfolded.
Mrs Bernadette Gallagher, a grandmother from Shantallow in Derry, will never forget the day. She remembers waiting for her husband, John, and her sons, James, Sean and Liam, to return from the march. They did, to her eternal relief.
She knew nothing about Lord Saville or Mr Justice Hoyt or Sir Edward Somers, but deep in her heart she believed this inquiry would be exhaustive and comprehensive, as the legal men have promised.
"I sense it will be a genuine inquiry this time," she said. Everybody in the city was affected by Bloody Sunday one way or another. Everybody had relations or friends or neighbours who were killed." As the judges moved on up towards the walls of Derry, she added, "Bloody Sunday left a terrible open wound. Maybe it can be healed now."
