Were it not for the Red Hand Commando emblem to the right (second image) this could be a strictly WWI mural, with the crest of the 36th (Ulster) Division and flags of the Ulster Volunteers and battle honours of the YCV/Royal Irish Rifles 14th battalion. The RHC were formed in 1972. Newtownards Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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UVF and YCV insignia in Pitt Place, east Belfast, in the shadow of one of the H&W cranes, with the community centre (Ballymac) on the right.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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UVF territorial marking in east Belfast. McMaster Street, a few blocks west of the earlier UFF marking in Solway Street.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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UVF memorial mural in Lendrick Street, Belfast, with crest over the hoarding.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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“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 “East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force – The People’s Army”.
Tamar Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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“C Coy lost volunteers,” “In memory of the volunteers who made the supreme sacrifice” and “In memory of all loyalists who gave their lives – lest we forget.” Red Hand Commando mural and plaques in Hunt Street, just off the Newtownards Road, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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“In the early 1970’s the Provisional IRA (PIRA) flexed it’s muscles to demonstrate that the Official IRA were no longer the representatives of the republican community. Unfortunately for the Unionist population they were on the receiving end as PIRA launched sectarian bomb and gun attacks across Northern Ireland but in particular Belfast. Many innocent Protestants were murdered simply because of their religion, others were injured and many burnt out of their homes. The community was in turmoil and felt that there was no one to defend it. It was then that they (the communities) decided to take matters into their own hands and organise themselves into groups capable of defending their home and businesses from these violent and horrific sectarian attack. It was during this period of crises and community tension that the Ulster Defence Association was founded and the ranks of the Ulster Volunteer Force increased significantly. They became the defenders of the community, as they were the community.”
One of fourteen panels in Thorndyke Street, east Belfast. For a list of entries for each panel, see East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society.
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Copyright © 2005 Peter Moloney
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Here are 2003 images, including close-ups, of the YCV-UVF-RHC board in Dennet Gardens, Londonderry, previously seen in 1998.
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
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The flag of the UVF includes the St George’s Cross in the top left, with the red hand of Ulster in the bottom right (replaced here by the letters “UVF”), on a field of purple.
Parkhall Road, Antrim
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
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“In memory of a dear friend.” UVF volunteer Denver Smith was killed in the early morning of January 1st, 2000 by a gang of six men with machetes and pikes; the incident was perhaps drugs-related (Guardian | BBC-NI. For the wider picture An Phoblacht | Irish Times).
Parkhall Road, Antrim with kerbstones in the colours of the UVF.
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Copyright © 2003 Peter Moloney
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Peter Moloney Collection 