WWII

Sir Edward Bingham

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This is a mural in his home town to rear admiral Sir Edward Bingham, OBE, born in Bangor and recipient of the Victoria Cross (featured in the apex of the roof) for service in WWI.

“Rear Admiral Edward Bingham VC OBE, son of Lord Clanmorris, was born in Bangor and served in the Royal Navy during the First World War. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in engaging the German fleet during the battle of Jutland. The Bingham family name adorns various settings in the town where he is remembered with pride. Rear Admiral Bingham’s Victoria Cross was purchased by North Down borough council and is on display at the North Down museum.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Battle Of Britain

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“Love demands sacrifice”. “‘From this day to the ending of the world … we in it shall be remembered, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers’ for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother’ – Henry V, William Shakespeare”

2015 marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle Of Britain, which was waged from July to October in 1940. This large board is part of an anti-racism project, celebrating the contributions to the Battle made by roughly 145 Polish aviators (WP) and especially the 303 squadron, which was stationed in Northern Ireland for a time (BBC-NI). “The Polish nation – part of us then, part of us now”.

The artist is Ross Wilson. Belfast Live has a report on the launch.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Belfast Blitz

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In the “Belfast Blitz” of April and May 1941, during WWII, 900 people died and half the homes in Belfast were destroyed or damaged (WP). In the apex of this mural, a Nazi bomber sets buildings alight; in the main panel, people, including a milkman, walk among the bombed-out buildings, while others (bottom right) test out a piano that has been moved. 

On the side-wall to the right is a painted frame surrounding a manufactured plaque with the names of locals who died in the blitz.

By JMK (Jonny McKerr – Fb) in Hogarth Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Both the lamp-post and the electrical box have been painted into the mural.

McKerr also did a piece in the area of images from WWI – see The Home Front.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Belfast Blitz

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This board is on the end of the Hubb Community Resources Centre and Bowling Club in St. Vincent Street, north Belfast; across the street is Crusaders football ground.

From the Tele: “The building was once the home for local Civil Defence during World War II’s ‘Blitz’. This building is now the one of the last remaining Civil Defence structures in Northern Ireland and has also played home to the local Senior Bowls Club for many years.” The mural also shows bombed-out homes and children going off to the countryside. Short documentary about the 1941 Belfast Blitz (youtube).

Here is a badge of the YRCD & Bowling Club.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Footsteps Through Our History

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Footsteps through the history of Coleraine, from top to bottom: Martin Luther (c. 1521); John Knox, who led the reformation in Scotland (c. 1560); the plan of Coleraine (c. 1611); the relief of Derry (1689); the Williamite campaign (1690); (and then a jump to) WWI (“Christmas truce, western front”); WWII (“War on the home front”).

These boards replaced a UDA mural in March, 2014 (see Loyalist Ballysally).

Daneshill Road, Coleraine.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Blair “Paddy” Mayne

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Robert Blair “Paddy” Mayne was a rugby player, boxer, golfer, and solicitor, and in WWII a commando and one of the first members of the SAS (Special Air Service), participating in raids behind enemy lines in Egypt and Libya (depicted in the board above), and later, as SAS commander, in France, Belgium and other countries. His many decorations, including the DSO (four times) and French Croix De Guerre and Legion D’Honneur, are pictured below. His WP page includes an explanation of the ribbon bars.

Mayne was born in Newtownards and returned there at the end of the war. His statue stands in the town’s Conway Square and this board can be found in Queen Street.

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Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
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Peace Cannot Be Kept By Force

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The theme “Remember the fallen from war” is illustrated by a bombed-out Ballymacarret library on Templemore Avenue and St. Patrick’s church, which is just across the street from the mural, both of which were hit during the blitz in 1942, a police land rover perhaps indicates the dead during the Troubles, while Cuchulainn stands for the IRA (and/or for the UDA?). The word “peace” appears next to an image of Stormont (bottom right) painted in white rather than grey.

We are supposed to remember the dead because (perhaps) their deaths were unnecessary and misguided as means to peace, at least according to the saying along the bottom (sometimes attributed to Einstein): “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding” – understanding of the Nazis during the blitz, it seems, and of loyalists during the Troubles. If you have a better interpretation, please (please!) leave a comment.

The mural was imitated on the hoarding around the Cultúrlann on the Falls Road during its renovation, though this version does not mention the blitz and seems to be lamenting the CNR dead and calling for understanding of the CNR community (sc. by Britain and the Orange state) – see X01279.

Lendrick Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2010 Peter Moloney
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Fathers And Sons Of The Shankill

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“The area suffered immense loss of life during the Blitz of the Second World War. Having given so much in the fight for liberty during World Wars I and II, these digital artworks by Steven Tunley commemorate experience and history from enlistment in World War I to the Blitz and to the celebration of VE Day. The project was funded by the Re-Imaging Communities programme of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and delivered by Belfast City Council with the support of the Lower Shankill Community Association. This project would not have been possible without the support and participation of the local community.”

Dover Place, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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The Belfast Blitz

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These five panels on the south side of the Donegall Road bridge commemorate the “Belfast Blitz”  – the four occasions in April and May of 1941 on which Belfast incendiary (“fire”) and high explosive (“HE”) bombs were dropped by Nazis airplanes, killing 900 people.

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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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