“It is not for glory we fight, nor riches, nor honours – but for freedom alone, which no good man loses but with his life.” (from the Declaration Of Arbroath). A UDA/UFF gunman from A battalion, South Belfast brigade, is ready to fire.
Similar in style to the pair of murals in Snugville Street.
Roden Street, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00219
The flag on the left is the UVF flag with “1912” in the corner, referring back to the Ulster Volunteers. The flag on the right lists WWI battles – Somme, Ypres, St Quentin, and Grandcourt are showing, while Arras, Thiepval, Messines, and Fricourt are probably hidden – under the title “Monkstown East Antrim”; men from the area joined the Central Antrim/12th battalion of the RIR.
Cloyne Crescent, Monkstown, Newtownabbey
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00244
“We are the pilgrims, master – we shall go always a little further” is a line from James Elroy Flecker’s verse poem Hassan and is inscribed on the clock tower of the the Hereford barracks of the SAS (WP). It is used here by hooded gunmen from “East Belfast” Ulster Volunteer Force.
Armitage Close, east Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00240
Although currently on ceasefire, hooded gunmen from UVF 1st Battalion/West Belfast C Company are armed ready to defend the Shankill.
Carnan Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy (no date given)
T00242
“UVF – 1912-1994 – still undefeated”. The UVF joined the ceasefire in October, 1994, and since this image is from 1996 and this mural continued to exist until 2002 (including a repainting in 2000 – see D00981) we can take it as an expression of continued readiness for armed violence, without any mention of “compromise” or of being “prepared for peace“.
The UVF did not continually exist from 1912 onward – see UVF 75th Anniversary.
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00147
These UVF hooded gunmen are at the entrance to the Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast. The message “prepared for peace, ready for war” expresses a wary skepticism about the ceasefire. The IRA’s ceasefire began in August 1994, and the UVF’s in October.
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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00138
“In loving memory of Stevie McCrea”. Red Hand Commando volunteer Stevie McCrea was sentenced to 16 years for the murder of James Kerr in 1972 (Behind The Mask) and was subsequently “murdered by the enemies of Ulster” on February 18th, 1989 in an IPLO attack on the Orange Cross (WP). (The door of the club can be seen next to the mural in M00560.)
On the side-wall, Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen‘ is modified for the singular “he”: “For he shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary him nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him.”
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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00237 T00152
Tina Turner’s cover (youtube) of Bonnie Tyler’s song “The Best” reached #5 in the UK charts in 1989 and the phrase “simply the best” from the chorus would appear in a number of UDA murals over the years, beginning with this 1995 mural depicting hooded gunmen from the UDA/UFF’s second battalion C company.
Dover Place, west Belfast. This mural would be repainted in the Adair era to include a list of mass killings of Catholics.
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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00139c
“Compromise” in “Compromise or conflict” hints at the potential of the peace process but loyalist muraling continues to present hooded gunmen (in this case from “1st battalion, west Belfast UVF”) engaged in physical-force activity. In the same vein, see Prepared For Peace, Ready For War.
The first appearance of Eddie The Trooper – a definite increase in the intensity of violent imagery – will be in 1996.
Later with a side-wall (to the right of image) that read simply “A. company / 1st battalion”
Dover Place, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1995 Paddy Duffy
T00133c
King William III is flanked by foot soldiers from 1690 and 1990. A small painted sign to the right reads, “We the people of Sandy Row remember with pride the 300th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. No surrender. Signed, UFF.”
The modern-day gunman on the right would later be replaced by another period soldier – see the Peter Moloney Collection.
Blythe Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast
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Copyright © 1990 Paddy Duffy
T00131 T00121
Paddy Duffy Collection 