🕯️ IN MEMORY On this day in 2004, British civil engineer Kenneth John Bigley was murdered by his captors in Iraq after three terrible weeks as a hostage.
Ken, a 62-year-old Liverpudlian, was working on reconstruction projects in Baghdad when armed militants abducted him from his home on 16th September 2004.
Taken alongside him were his American colleagues:
Eugene Armstrong
Jack Hensley
Eugene and Jack were murdered several days after the kidnapping. Ken remained in captivity until 7th October. During those agonising weeks, people from many countries, faiths and political backgrounds appealed for his life.
Christian and Muslim leaders gathered in Liverpool to pray for his safe return. The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the kidnapping and sent a delegation to Iraq to plead for his release. The British and Irish governments, international leaders and, above all, Ken’s family worked desperately to bring him home. Their efforts could not overcome the cruelty of the men holding him.
Ken Bigley, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley were not political symbols or pieces to be used in a conflict.
They were three men doing their jobs. They were husbands, fathers, brothers, colleagues and friends. They were loved and people were waiting for them to come home. Today, we remember all three men and the families who endured unimaginable grief.
Kenneth John Bigley
22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004
Eugene Armstrong
Jack Hensley
May they be remembered not for the cruelty inflicted upon them, but for the lives they lived and the people who loved them.
Rest in peace. 🕯️