“In proud and loving memory of our comrades who have sacrificed their lives. They gave their all so that we may live in freedom.” The Woodvale Defence Association (“WDA” along the bottom) was the largest of the local associations which merged together in 1971 to form the Ulster Defence Association (UDA/UFF) and the WDA became B company of 2nd battalion (WP).
Ohio Street, Woodvale, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00233 T00221
“Present peace now stills our hand/Death no longer stalks our land./Our weapons are silent and shall remain/But if needed, we shall rise again.” UDA volunteers in fatigues hold on to their weapons while the peace process continues. On the right: “In memory of the officers and volunteers of A Coy UDA UFF who unselfishly dedicated their lives in defence of their country. Quis separabit. Feriens tego.”
Above is printed board with a silhouetted POW in front of a watch-tower. “LPOW – you are not forgotten”
On the community centre in the middle of High Green, Highfield, west Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00220 [T00226]
“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
“Still defending Ulster – we will always be ready. 1912 – 1969. To the politicians: words are not enough for the peace and freedom of the children and the people of Ulster “deeds and actions”. To our volunteers: the supreme sacrifice is to lay down your life for your country. Some have given everything, others have yet to give.”
The modern volunteer, while hooded, is not in an active pose, reflecting the ceasefire. The word “to the politicians” perhaps express frustration with the peace process (and hint at the continued violence of the LVF, created after the dispute in July at Drumcree).
Kenilworth Place, east Belfast
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Copyright © 1996 Paddy Duffy
T00151
“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
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
Paddy Duffy Collection 