A witness described yesterday how bullets narrowly missed him several times as he ran from soldiers, while at the same time frantically searching for his four teenage sons.
Mr Hugh O'Donnell said that when trouble broke out in William Street he searched there unsuccessfully for his sons, who had gone off with friends of their own age.
However, when he saw army vehicles begin to advance, he ran down an alleyway towards the Rossville Flats. He heard shooting and saw Saracen armoured cars arrive on the waste ground in front of him.
Mr O'Donnell said a big soldier carrying a rifle at hip level emerged from one Saracen, pointed his gun towards an alleyway between the blocks of flats, and "like John Wayne" fired two shots from the hip without taking aim.
He also saw other soldiers shooting towards the flats. He saw no fire directed towards the soldiers, and they were not acting as if they were in danger. In the car-park of the flats he saw a man in his 50s picking his way through the rubble, and "I recognised him as being one of our bin men". He saw a soldier go over to this man "and knock him hard over the head with the barrel of his rifle".
Mr O'Donnell then saw a Knights of Malta first-aid man crouched over and treating someone lying on the ground. A soldier went over and hit him on the head with his rifle.
The witness said he was terrified and ran for the flats. As he reached the alleyway he heard two shots behind him and sparks flew off a drainpipe above his head.
When he looked round the gable end of the flats, he saw Saracens in Rossville Street, and "soldiers were everywhere and shooting high-pitched rounds towards us".
When Mr O'Donnell arrived home to the Creggan he found all his sons were safe.
Ms Susan Hansen said she watched from the window of her aunt's flat in Kells Walk, facing into Rossville Street, as Saracens drove into the Bogside at speed. "As soon as the Saracens stopped, I saw about 30 or 40 soldiers jump out of them," she said. "They started shooting their rifles as they jumped out. It was like Dodge City. They were firing live ammunition in the direction of the crowds."
She saw soldiers catch a running boy "and they all started hitting him with the butts of their rifles . . . Very soon the boy was lying on the ground, and they were kicking him".
She said the boy was then held up by a soldier on each side, and she could see he was covered in blood. A soldier who had been chasing him fired a rubber bullet gun at the boy's stomach at very close range. He collapsed, and she thought he was dead.
Soldiers then threw the boy into a Saracen, on top of an older, bald man who had been photographed by soldiers and thrown in previously.
Mr Gerry McBride said there was "hand-to-hand fighting" between soldiers and some young men after the troops came into the waste ground beside the flats. He and his friend ran to join in. "The soldiers did not scare me and they were not particularly well built, but it would not have mattered if they had been lions because I would have gone in anyway," he said.
He went with others to assist a woman who was crying in pain and calling for help. This was Mrs Peggy Deery, who was shot in the thigh. After bringing her into cover beside a wall for a time, they carried her to a house in Chamberlain Street.
The inquiry continues today.