Two images from Creggan, Co. Armagh (near Crossmaglen). First, the memorial to “Brendan Burns, Carnally, 1958-1988” and “Brendan Moley, Dorsey, 1958-1998” “who died here on active service on the 29th February 1988 – fuaır sıad bás ar son na saoırse.” (Tribute from RN.) A Celtic warrior with a spear stands in front of a Janus statue. “South Armagh Sınn Féın Cumann.”
Below, “restore political status”. Both are on Donaldson’s Road.
“Go luath ına shaol thuıg Réamonn nach mbaınfeadh muıntır na hÉıreann an tsaoırse ná an cothrom amach go dtí gur cuıreadh ar na Sasanaıgh déıleáıl go hoscaılte gan claonadh lenár n-ıonadaıthe. Chuaıgh Réamonn ı gcomhar leıs na Fıanna Éıreann in 1973 …”
A pair of boards describing the life of IRA volunteer and 1981 hunger striker Raymond McCreesh in both English and Irish are mounted on the railings at Raymond McCreesh Park, in Patrick Street, Newry.
“In memory of IRA volunteers Gerard Crossan, Tom McCann, Tony Lewis, John [Sean] Johnston, who died while on active service on the 9th March 1972 at 32 Clonard St. Erected by the Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association.” The four died in a premature explosion (“active service”) presumably at the home of Lewis, who lived in Clonard Street. Crossan and Johnston were 19, McCann and Lewis were 20 (The Troubles 11).
Kevin Lynch is shown raising the Under-16 County Derry hurling trophy (photo below). He was arrested in December 1976 and went on the blanket and then the second hunger strike. Lynch died after 71 days on hunger strike – the longest-surviving striker – in Long Kesh/the Maze prison. The H-Block Song (with lyric “I’ll wear no convict’s uniform/nor meekly serve my time/that Britain might brand Ireland’s fight/800 years of crime” was played by a piper at his funeral. (An Phoblacht)
Along the bottom are the emblems of Kevin Lynch Memorial flute band (Fb), Kevin Lynch’s hurling club (“mısneach ‘s dílseacht”), and St Dympna’s football club, Luton (Fb).
The mural is shown on the day of its launch, August 4th, 2012 – the plaque on the left is covered by a small curtain in the first image above but shown in the second.
The street was also named in Lynch’s honor, with a plaque at the other end.
The placard is in Chapel Road – it seems to be the same one as in 2011, but with a frame added.
A mural from 1st Shankill Somme association (Fb) commemorating the Battle of the Somme, with soldiers running through no-man’s land and the Ulster Tower memorial. With support from the Govan Somme Association, Grapes Bar, Glasgow.
The scroll reads “Out of the ashes of 1969” arose the Provisional IRA, but the lineage is a long one and all but one of the organisations, events, and arms depicted here precede 1969: Cumann Na mBan, Na Fıanna Éıreann, Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann, a Celtic shield and sword, a pike (from the 1798 Rebellion), a Thompson gun, the Tricolour; only the assault rifle is modern and perhaps also is meant to indicate the Provisionals, Belfast Brigade. “Fuaır sıad bás as son saoırse na hÉıreann.”
“Community Inquiry Report: There was a clear breach of Article 2 of the European Convention On Human Rights, the right to life. The jury was deeply moved by the integrity and honesty of the evidence they heard. We have been deeply shocked by the state’s total failure to investigate killings and woundings. The evidence is unequivocal regarding the innocence of the deceased and wounded. There is no evidence whatsoever that they were armed or acted in a manner that could be perceived as a threat to the security services.”
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. Sınn Féın politician Gerry Kelly spoke at the launch (image in the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection).
Jim O’Neill was killed in February 1976 during an IRA arson attack on a furniture warehouse on the Antrim Road near the New Lodge – Gerry Fitt’s house next door might have been the ultimate target (Belfast Child); Robert Allsopp appears to have accidentally shot himself in March 1975 (Irish Peace Process). Both were members of Na Fıanna. The flute band (Fb) is named in their memory.
Below the portraits of Jim O’Neill and Robert Allsopp is written “Glaıne ınár cgroí, neart ınár ngéaga, beart de reír [réır] ar [ár] mbrıathar.” [Purity in our hearts, strength in our limbs, action consistent with our words]
Above: “Roll of honour – South Armagh Brigade Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. ‘We must take no steps backward, our steps must be onward, for if we don’t, the martyrs that died for you, for me, for this country will haunt us for eternity'” [Maura Drumm, from an anti-internment rally in Dunville Park on 10th August, 1975 (RN)]
Below: “Join Sınn Féın – Bígí lınn”. Raymond McCreesh, one of the dead 1981 hunger strikers, was from the (relatively) nearby Camlough. “‘You cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom’ – Pádraıg Pearse”
“South Armagh Brigade roll of honour Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann. This garden of remembrance is dedicated to the volunteers of the Irish Republican Army and to the men and women of South Armagh who played their part in the struggle for Irish freedom with integrity, courage and determination. I measc laochra na hÉıreann go raıbh a n-anam dílıs. ‘There is no height or bloody fight a freeman can’t defy/There is no source or foreign force can break one who knows/That his freewill no one can kill and from that freedom grows.'” The poetry is from Bobby Sands’s poem The Crime Of Castlereagh.
Peter Moloney Collection 