This RNU (Fb) board features the closing words from Sands’s prison diary, from March 17th, 1981:
“They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then that we will see the rising of the moon.”
In the corners, funeral volleys are being fired over the coffins of Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell, two of the deceased 1981 hunger strikers who were local to the area. For background information, see the board that this one replaces: To Whom Do We Owe Our Allegiance Today?
“West Tyrone Brigade, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. Vol. Charles Breslin, Vol, David Devine, Vol. Michael Devine”. The three were killed on February 23rd, 1985, in a hail of 100-200 SAS bullets, as they returned arms for an aborted mission to a dump near the Fountain area of Strabane; their families were later (2002) awarded compensation. (An Phoblacht | WP | UTv)
The board shown above is in the Fountain Street memorial garden, which centrally features a stone-wall enclosure to the trio. Individual stones have also been added to the garden, to Danny McCauley (TPQ | An Phoblacht), Tobias Molloy (An Phoblacht), and Eugene Devlin (An Phoblacht) (shown below). The local SF cumann is named after Molloy/Devlin/McCauley (Fb).
The rosette at the centre of the poppy wreath shows the UK armed services badge (with the crown overlaid by the Ulster Banner) surrounded by a verse from Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’ and “Tiger’s Bay – York Street – Sailortown loyal”. That group’s Facebook page is private and no home-page seems to be available for ‘North Belfast Friends Of The Somme’.
North Queen Street, Tiger’s Bay, Belfast, at the old Lewis Street.
“In defence of the republic”, “Éıre aontaıthe, Gaelach, agus saor. Seasamh [“ag seasamh”? “seas”? “seasaıgí”?] le Poblacht Shóısıalach Dhaonlathach na hÉıreann 32 Contae.” “Nothing can alter the truth of it: Ireland belongs to the Irish” – Pádraıg Pearse. [from ‘To The Boys Of Ireland‘]”
[Ireland united, Gaelic, and free. Stand with a 32-county, democratic, socialist, Irish republic]
“Honour Ireland’s patriot dead – in our hearts your memory lives on. Irish Republican Martyrs Commemorative Committee [Fb]”
This board also serves to provide an end-of-life image of the piece behind it – Climate Change Affects Everyone But Not Equally – which is now 12 years old and has missing panels; since no one appears to be minding the space, the old board is simply being covered over.
“In proud memory of Ryan McCosh [and] Chris Hamilton, North Down battalion, Bangor”. The memorial board was officially dedicated on November 10th but was in place a month previously (Fb).
To the right of the wide shot, writing on side-walls can be seen that reads “Bangor Protestant Boys F[lute] B[and]” and “Did they beat the drum slowly? Did they play the fife lowly?”. The latter lines are from Eric Bogle’s song “No Man’s Land” which is about a young man (“Willie McBride”) dying on “the green fields of France” in WWI. (Here (youtube) is the recording by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.) McCosh and Hamilton appear to have been members of the flute band, rather than members of the Ulster Volunteers or the Troubles-era UVF.
“In proud [and] loving memory of our fallen comrades during Ulster’s conflict. ‘Some gave all, all gave some.’ South Belfast Brigade.” According to Sutton, 91 UDA members died during the Troubles (CAIN).
The text on the side-wall reads, “Death is not an honour but a sacrifice and those who gave that sacrifice are remembered by those that followed. Quis separabit.”
Cloughfern Young Conquerors flute band (Fb – warning: copious use of images of Eddie The Trooper) was founded in 1973, the same year as the UDA began using the name “UFF”. “John” and “Rab” on the arms of the emblem above are John “Grugg” Gregg (also known as ‘The Reaper’) and Rab Carson of the UDA’s Southeast Antrim brigade. The pair were killed together in 2003 by the lower Shankill (West Belfast C company) UDA. (See also Gregg & Carson for another local tribute.)
The gentleman in the panel on the right is “The General”; he celebrated a birthday in July of this year (2024) (Fb) and so is perhaps not (as this board might suggest) another of the “absent friends” held in “glorious memory”.
See also: 50 Years Unbroken and CYC 50th– celebrations from 2023 of the band’s fiftieth anniversary.
After a long spring and summer of inaction, a new tribute to UDA assassin Stevie “Top Gun” McKeag has been put in place in the lower Shankill, replacing the flat-capped version of 2016.
In Tolstoy’s War And Peace, the prince Andrei Bolkonsky at one early point remarks, “It is not given to people judge what’s right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more so than in what they consider right and wrong.” But after he is wounded at the Battle Of Austerlitz in 1805 and again in 1812 at the Battle Of Borodino, he loses his admiration for the blood-thirsty Napoleon and for war in general, and comes to think that events are a function of many individual decisions.
Stevie McKeag, hit-man for the UDA’s second battalion (west Belfast) ‘C company’, killed at least a dozen Catholics between 1990 and 1998 (WP). The version presented on the left-hand side-wall (just below) begins, “It is not given to people to judge what’s right or wrong. People have internally been mistaken and will be mistaken …” which seems to be contradictory, and then continues “… and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong” which is difficult to parse so as to give the intended meaning.
The mirrored hooded gunmen on either side of the quote come from an old mural in the estate – see UDU-UFF-UDA.
The smiling McKeag is here shown in the main panel wearing a green beret (as is the anonymous volunteer in the side-wall) and commando jumper (with shoulder patches) as though he were a “military commander” in the Commandos or Royal Marines of the British Army. The UDU, the poppies, and the graveside mourners in the right-hand side-wall are used to put McKeag’s actions in the context of resistance to Home Rule and the British Army’s role in the Great War.
For the composition of the main panel, as well as its use of boards on top of the background, compare with the UDA piece in the Woodvale. The translation into English of the UDA’s, UFF’s, and UYM’s Latin mottos – [Quis separabit] / None shall separate us | Feriens tego / Striking I defend | Terrae Filius / Son Of The Soil – is unusual, as is the bouquet of flowers behind the poppy.
For more, including the mourning soldiers, see the entry at Extramural Activity.
“Land of the free because of the brave”. “Remember with pride”. “Those we love don’t go away/They walk beside us every day”. “Dedicated to our fallen comrade”.
April 25th, 2024: The boards were taken off, revealing an older version that stood 2010-2015.
[In the middle circle there were, over the years, a series of printed portraits of McKeag (and one painted version). For the version from 2014, see M11119; see also the image 2011, which links back to other versions from 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007).]
May 3rd, 2024: Scaffolding in front of the wall
This layer of paint (and plaster?) was also taken off, to reveal the remains of the original King Rat mural on the wall – see X15041 in the Seosamh Mac Coille collection.
“In memory of Brigadier Billy Wright (King Rat). ‘Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ – John Ch15v13. Gone but not forgotten.” Wright became alienated from the UVF due to his opposition to the ceasefire and peace process (in 1994) and was finally kicked out in 1996 during the Drumcree dispute. The Portadown UVF under Wright formed the LVF [Loyalist Volunteer Force]; another LVF unit was formed in Ballycraigy, where this memorial can be found. (BBC | WP) Silhouetted graveside mourners have been added, compared to the 2009 image in the Peter Moloney collection.
“Dedicated to the memory of the men and women who served with the UDR C.G.C (Conspicuous Gallantry Cross) under OPERATION BANNER during the Troubles. Lest we forget. Also in memory of local veteran Geoffrey Lindsay who passed away on the 12th November 2022.”
The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross is shown (in the close-up below) at the top of the board; it was awarded to the UDR retroactively in 2006 for its role in ‘Operation Banner’, i.e. the deployment of British Army troops to Northern Ireland – the regiment had been folded into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992. The mural is specifically to the 5th (Co. Londonderry) battalion – here is a list of the 11 battalions (and bases).
There is also a UDR information board (and an Ulster Volunteers board) in the green-space in front of this mural – see Leckagh Remembers The Fallen.
The memorial mural to the 36th (Ulster) Division on the end wall has also been completed since last (2023) year – in-progress images for both murals from last August are included below. For the previous murals on these walls, see C07766.
Two other pieces are included, below: the UVF mural was seen last year in Pause, Reflect, Remember; the ‘Ignite the fire’ board appears to be new.
Leckagh Drive, Magherafelt
August 27th green-washing of previous mural:
August 27th in-progress image of mural immediately above:
Paddy Duffy Collection 