Thirty years ago this weekend, Johnny Walker was preparing to travel by train and ferry to Belfast along with five other men for the funeral of an IRA volunteer, James McDaid.
It was to be the start of a nightmarish journey that would lead to wrongful conviction, 16 years in jail, vilification, a long-running battle subsequently for compensation from the British government.
Today, Mr Walker lives in Carrickfin, Co Donegal, growing vegetables for local markets, along with his wife and 10-year-old son, Marty. "It is a new life and experience," he told The Irish Times.
Though forever grouped together in the public mind, the six men today have little or no contact. "We met two years ago. We thought that the best thing to do was to each get on with our own lives.
"I don't want to be known as 'Johnny Walker, Birmingham Six'. I just want to be known as Johnny Walker. The rest of them felt the same way," he said yesterday.
The best known of the six, Mr Paddy Joe Hill, lives outside Glasgow and is still deeply involved in helping other wrongfully convicted prisoners through his own organisation, Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO).
Mr Billy Power still lives in east London with his wife, Nora, and works at a hostel for homeless, though he has encountered many difficulties coming to terms with everyday life since they were released in 1991.
Mr Gerry Hunter lived in south London until 2001 and then moved to Portugal, while Mr Richard McIlkenny has returned to Maynooth, Co Kildare, with his wife, Kathleen. He has suffered serious ill-health in recent years.
Mr Hugh Callaghan lives alone in north London. "He goes for walks in the parks and feeds the ducks. He is the gentleman among us," said Mr Walker, laughing.
In recent days, he said, some have argued that the people of Birmingham should receive an apology from the IRA. "So they should, but so, too, should six men wrongfully convicted."
The six finally won compensation from the British government, though Mr Walker declined to reveal the size of the awards.
"It isn't as much as we would have hoped for," he said. "They did not want to give us anything. It was hard. We tried to get on with our lives. They fought us for this every step, even arguing that the standard of living in the UK was higher than here."
The 30th anniversary has brought back memories never far below the surface. "At times like this, I keep myself to myself. My family don't understand life as a prisoner," Mr Walker said.
"But I don't want them to understand. You can't understand it unless you go through it."
He has managed to build "a normal life" in Donegal. "We go out for meals, to the pub. People here have been fairly good to me. People don't bother us, we don't bother them," he said, admitting that he is recognised from time to time.
Asked for his feelings towards those who did plant the bombs, Mr Walker said: "It is on their conscience. I can say that we never did the crime, and that fact kept us together."
