This “C Company Carrickfergus” mural combines vintage YCV soldiers (on the left, with a list of WWI battles on the flag) and modern paramilitaries on the right. Dean Park, Carrickfergus.
“Lest we forget. This memorial is dedicated to the men of the Willowfield Battalion, East Belfast regiment, Ulster Volunteer Force, who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War 1914-1918. It stands on the site of the old Willowfield unionist hall, opened by Sir Edward Carson on May 16th 1913, as a drill hall and rifle range for Willowfield UVF. It was from this hall volunteers marched to Balmoral, from there to the green fields of France, some never to return. Sleep on, dear sons of Ulster, ’til the trumpet sounds again.”
“In memory of our fallen comrades Ulster Volunteer Force East Belfast.”
“In solemn remembrance we salute the brave men of Ulster. Without favour or reward they fought militant republicanism on its own terms. Their courage, dedication and sacrifice we will remember for evermore. Joe Long, Robert (Squeak) Seymour, Charlie Logan, Trevor King, Billy Miller, Tommy McDowell, Joe Shaw, Colin Caldwell, Harris Boyle, Wesley Somerville, Geoffrey Freeman, David Swanson, Sinclair Jonhston, Robin Jackson. This is a few of the many. For God and Ulster.”
Graffiti on the loyalist side of the “peace” wall between (nationalist) Obins Street and loyalist Edgarstown, from right to left along Corcrain Road into Charles Street. “KAT” [Kill all Taigs] “REM 96” [Drumcree?], “UFF”, “Free Mad Dog” [Johnny Adair], “ATAT” [All Taigs are targets], “REM the rat pack – we’re back” [LVF], “UFF C Coy UYM”, “LVF”, “FTP” [Fuck the pope], “No pope”.
Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville were UDR soldiers and UVF volunteers. They were “killed in action” when the bomb they were planting on the minibus of the Miami Showband went off prematurely. Of the pair, only Somerville’s arm with its “UVF Portadown” tattoo remained identifiable (WP). The plaque is in Princess Way/Gloucester Avenue, Portadown.
These three are all from Carlow Street. In the first image, the “UFF” lettering has been over-painted with “UVF”. This is a vintage “bare background” (the wall is not completely painted) mural, dating back perhaps to 1994.
Rival UFF and UVF (YCV) emblems only yards apart along Owenroe Drive in Bangor (Kearney Gardens and Craigboy Mews). The UFF board is labelled “2nd batt West Belfast” – there is an identical board in the nearby Bloomfield estate.