As shots rang out around her, a young first aid volunteer faced paratroopers and called on them to stop firing as she went to the aid of three casualties lying in the courtyard of Glenfada Park, the inquiry heard yesterday.
Ms Eibhlin Mahon (then Lafferty) was 18-years-old and on duty as a uniformed Knights of Malta member on Bloody Sunday. The courage she displayed under fire was acknowledged yesterday, both by counsel for the victims' families and counsel for the soldiers. The 400th civilian witness heard at the inquiry, her evidence (and that of earlier witnesses) described how she stood her ground, facing the paratroopers until the three victims - two dying or dead and the third badly wounded - were carried away.
She did not know the wounded man, Joe Mahon, at that time, but a number of years later they married.
Mrs Mahon described the distinctive uniform she wore on the day - a white first aid coat with a red heart on the top left hand pocket - and the white first aid bag she carried.
Soon after the shooting began in the Bogside, she saw two bodies lying in Abbey Park and ran towards them. She said yesterday: "There was shooting going on as I ran past the front of the houses in Abbey Park and bullets were bouncing around me . . . I felt a 'whoosh' as one bullet hit the side of my trousers . . . I grabbed my leg and I dived to the ground."
As she lay beside the body of Gerard McKinney, she said, he seemed to be dying or already dead, and she knew there was nothing she could do.
Lord Anthony Gifford QC, on behalf of the Wray family, commended Mrs Mahon for her "great courage in going out, insisting on seeing the bodies removed and standing up to the soldiers as you did." Two counsel for various groups of soldiers, Mr Edwin Glasgow QC and Sir Allan Green QC, also acknowledged that she must have shown great courage on that day. The inquiry continues today.