RNU unveiled a new monument in Milltown as part of their Easter Rising commeration on April 9th, 2023. This photo of it is on a new board on the Falls Road, next to the Rook O’Prey board.
For the stone itself, see An Attitude Of Rebellion. There do not appear to be any images of the new monument on the RNU Fb or tw accounts.
“Republican Network For Unity. Erected by the Belfast Commemoration Committe[e]. Miltown cemetery Easter 2023.”
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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After WWI, the Royal Irish Rifles became the Royal Ulster Rifles (and later became part of the Royal Irish Rangers). This board prioritises WWI as the Rifles were part of the 36th Division. The hero of WWI portrayed in the central panel is William McFadzean, awarded the VC for falling on two live grenades in the trenches on July 1st, 1916. McFadzean is familiar from many previous murals both individually and in the company of other VC winners; for his family home in Cregagh, see Rubicon.
Alongside McFadzean, the hero of WWII is Blair “Paddy” Mayne, who was only briefly in the Ulster Rifles before making his name in the Parachute Unit (later, and better, known as the SAS). His many medals of honour are shown in an old Newtownards mural, though he was denied the VC.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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These two boards are at Gort Na Móna CLG. The one above was put developed by young Gorts as they learned about the history of the club as part of a twentieth anniversary celebration of Terry Óg Enright (Fb) who was killed by the LVF in 1998. The second board, below, combines the two previous boards to Terry Óg, seen previously in No Such Thing As Failure and Páırc Mhıc Ionnrachtaıgh.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Here are three images from the blind end of Montrose Street, east Belfast, updating a post from November last year (Loyal Servants) with the addition of the boards above, on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the final image below, which puts the new King Charles III between Queen Elizabeth and King William III.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Here are two portraits of the recently crowned King Charles III in east Belfast. The image at the centre of the lower board is the standard one we have seen many times; the one above, however, appears to reproduce a slightly stylised painting or graphic.
For another unusual image of King Charles, next to King William III, see Faith, Blood, Service, Sacrifice.
Lendrick Street and The Mount.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Big Ribbo” is David Conville, who died last year of injuries sustained in an assault by a friend (Bel Tel | Belfast Live). This memorial board shows him playing in the Ulster First Flute (Sandy Row) flute band (Fb).
For the bonfire mural, see Guiding Light.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“O valiant hearts who to your glory came/Through dust of conflict and through battle flame//Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved/Your memory hallowed [not “hollowed”] in the land you loved.” The hymn ‘O Valiant Hearts’ was a poem written during the first World War to commemorate the Allied dead, and was put to a variety of tunes during the 1920s, including arrangements by Vaughan Williams and Holst (WP); the most commonly sung tune, however, is that of Charles Harris (youtube, includes the full poem).
The memorial shown in the middle of the board is a Cross Of Sacrifice (see previously: One In Design And Intention) built on top of a German pill box at the centre of Tyne Cot cemetry, near Passchendaele, Belgium. The title of today’s post comes from remarks made by George V during a 1922 visit to the cemetery (History.org). The map in the background shows the area just south of Ypres (Canadian Soldiers).
The board is in Pim’s Avenue, Belfast, opposite the older YCV emblem shown below.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Willowfield Battalion.” The building on the corner of Willowfield Street and the Woodstock Road was demolished and rebuilt with a building whose gable wall is full of windows. As a result, the display of Somme-related boards (see 2017’s Faugh-A-Ballagh in the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection) has moved a short distance down the street to a gable that has been revealed by taking down two large trees. The panels remain as before, though a new version of the Somme board renders the information horizontally rather than vertically (above).
Above: “Never before was a debt owed to so few by so many. Generation after generation owe them everything. Lest we forget.” Winston Churchill’s line about the British Air Force in WWII, that “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few (youtube)“, is echoed in a board about the battles at the Somme between July 1st and November 18th, 1916. “The few” in this case, however, number nearly half a million dead and more than 72,000 missing.
Immediately below: “Only by remembering these men, and others like them, can we ever repay their memory.” The board shows the nine Victoria Cross recipients from the 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I (from 1917 and 1918) – E[dmund] De Wind, E[rnest] Seaman, C[ecil] L[eonard] Knox, N[orman] Harvey, (from 1916) G[eoffrey] St. G[eorge] S[hillington] Cather, W[illiam] F[rederick] MacFadzean, E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell, R[obert] Quigg, and J[ames] S[amuel] Emerson. The illustrations come from Cyril Falls’s book The History Of The 36th (Ulster) Division (from Project Gutenberg).
Apex: “1st July 1916 nothing finer was done in the war. The splendid troops, drawn from those volunteers who had banded themselves together for another cause, now shed their blood like water for the liberty of the world.”
Willowfield Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The hand-painted UVF Scottish Brigade mural (see Boab Kerr) in Beechfield Street/Tower Street has been replaced by this new printed board. The plaque to Kerr has been retained, but four names have been added – David Totten, Brian Milligan, Billy Inglis, and Jim Holt, who is now the most prominent. Holt died in February 2021 (ACT Fb).
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Sergeant John Kernohan. Service No. 7011935. The youngest of a family of ten, John enlisted with the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1932, then transferring to the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers in 1942 serving King, Queen and Country for 22 years. The record of his service exhibits great variety, both in regimental affiliation and in location with a service record which was exemplary. John saw service in Hong Kong, Palestine, France, Belgium, India[,] Austria and Malaya, where with the R.A.S.C. for distinguished service was mentioned in dispatches, his name appe[a]ring in the London Gazette of May 1950 [May 19th, 1950, page 2489, “in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Malaya during the period 1st July 1949 to 31st December 1949″; Royal Army Service Corps, Corporal Kerohan].”
The medals from left to right are: General Service – Palestine ribbon, 1939-1945 Star, War Medal, Burma Star, Defence Medal
Drumahoe Gardens, Millbrook, Larne.
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Paddy Duffy Collection 