This installation of information and photographs relating to Operation Motorman and the killing of Seamus Bradley is next to the memorial to Bradley on the path running through Bishop’s Field (which contains complete information about his death).
There was also a small installation of photographs and documents relating to Bradley’s killing below the Operation Motorman mural on Rossville Street.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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“British Army/RUC impunity – a poisonous legacy. 40+ years of British Army/RUC impunity, 351 dead, 4 prosecutions of soldiers. A police force that didn’t investigate, a prosecution service that didn’t prosecute, a judiciary that didn’t convict, an army that re-admitted convicted murderers, and successive governments that denied the murder of hundreds of [?interned?] civilians.”
The Poisonous Legacies conference was held in Derry’s Guildhall on June 14th and 15th 2013, organised by the Pat Finucane Centre and the Bloody Sunday Trust (pdf report).
This board is on the rear of Free Derry Corner.
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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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The information board, second above, shows a gunman (and a piece of fencing) that have been replaced by a pair of small pieces, one on the wall, one on boards (painted by John Stewart) to Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril “Tim” Collins, OBE, whose speech to troops on the eve of the Iraq invasion in 2003 is reproduced in part on the right: “There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others, I expect you to rock their world. But if you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory.” (More at WP.) The memorial garden and all of the other UDA panels remain, however – see UFF 4th Battalion.
Two other pieces in “phase 1” of “Communities Moving Forward Re-Imaging Programme” are Boxing Through The Ages and Past/Future (Lendrick St).
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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The poppy (with a skull at its centre and dripping blood) is “symbol of British imperialism around the world: Palestine, Libya, Malvinas, Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan. Britain out of Ireland.”
Hugo Street, west Belfast.
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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“In proud and loving memory of Vol. Robert McCrudden, Belfast Brigade, murdered by British Crown Forces, 3rd August 1972, aged 19 years. Ní dhéanfaıdh muıd dearmad [gur] fuaır sé bás ar son saoırse na hÉıreann. Remember Our Volunteers Committee 19th August 2012”
649 Springfield Road, west Belfast. McCrudden is also included in a mural in the nearby Divismore Way.
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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“Time changes! But the sacrifice remains the same.” Pictured is a board in Ogilvie Street in east Belfast, sponsored by the EU and the Cosy Somme Association, showing, in black and white, a WWI soldier, who is comforting another solider, in modern gear and in colour. The emblems of the 36th (Ulster) division and Royal Irish Rifles are also shown.
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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A Paratroop flag joins a UDU/UDA flag and an Ulster Banner on a lamp-post in Donegall Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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“In memory of Jim Sloan and James McCann, killed near this spot by British forces on the night of 3rd/4th February 1973. Always remembered by the people of the New Lodge Road.”
“In memory of Tony (T.C.) Campbell, Brendan Maguire, John Loughran and Ambrose Hardy, killed near this spot by British forces on the night of 3rd/4th February 1973. Always remembered by the people of the New Lodge Road.”
Two of the New Lodge Six (James Sloan, James McCann) were killed by the UDA outside a bar and four (Tony ‘TC’ Campbell, Ambrose Hardy, Brendan Maguire, John Loughran) were among the crowd that gathered, killed by British Army snipers from their positions on top of the flats, using night-vision sights, February 3rd-4th, 1973.
New Lodge Road, Belfast
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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The larger plaque on the board above reads, “We wish to pay tribute to the young men and women from this area, who are currently serving or have served with Her Majesty’s Forces in Afghanistan and to those from Northern Ireland who have paid the Surpreme Sacrifice. Lest we forget”.
The smaller one has part of the Ode of Remembrance from Laurence Binyon’s poem For The Fallen: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn, At the going down of the sun, And in the morning, We will Remember them.”
The side-wall reads “End PSNIRA political policing – free Protestant hostages” with a pair of fists bound by rope (rather than barbed wire).
Linn Road, Larne
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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Operation Motorman, the British Army’s retaking of ‘Free Derry’, took place on July 31st, 1972. This is the repainted mural (the in-progress shot is from April); for the 2001 original, see M01426. (Part of The People’s Gallery by the Bogside Artists.)
For the installation to Seamus Bradley, who died during the operation, (and for the photo the mural is based upon) see X01130.
The plaque is to Patrick Shiels (M03583).
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Copyright © 2013 Peter Moloney
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Peter Moloney Collection 