physical force

Recognition, Appreciation, Remembrance

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This pair of murals was launched in September last year (2014).

On the left A. E. Housman’s 1919 poem “Here dead we lie” is featured, together with the poppies that grew on the Western Front in WWI, in a UVF commemorative mural. The 36th (Ulster) Division is not mentioned specifically. “Here dead we lie, because we did not choose,/to live and shame the land, from which we sprung.//Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose,/but young men think it is, and we were young.”

The plaque on the right-hand side (which pre-dates the murals) lists the names of five UVF members killed in the 70s who are depicted in the second mural.

They are (l-r) Thomas Chapman, James McGregor, Robert McIntyre, William Hannah, and Robert Wadsworth, who were killed between 1973 and 1978. The mural is unusual in that it shows bare-faced full figures; loyalist murals sometimes include head-shots (at the top of the mural, in the apex of a gable wall) but only masked men appear as full figures. There is a similarity in composition and style (and perhaps even palette) to existing republican murals such as this one of five B. Coy IRA volunteers in Ballymurphy.

Carnan (or “C. Coy”) Street, west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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M11729 [M11946]

Frizzell’s Fish Shop 1993

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The memorial marker for what was Frizzell’s fish shop has been expanded with a (metal) cross of poppies. For the tablet alone (in 2011) see Frizzell’s; for the tablet and engraved medallion (in 2013) see Shankill Bombings.

“This Poppy Cross is in memory of the nine victims murdered at this spot by a no warning sectarian IRA bomb attack on Frizzell’s Fish Shop on 23rd October 1993. The 9 victims included men, women and children.”

“This tablet marks the site of Frizzel[l]’s Fish shop where at 1.05 p.m. on Saturday 23rd October 1993 a terrorist bomb exploded. 9 innocent souls lost their lives and many more were injured.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Mountainview Tavern 1975

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“This Poppy Cross is in memory of the five men murdered at this spot by a no warning sectarian IRA bomb attack on the Mountainview Tavern on 5th April 1975.” According to WP, the pub was full of punters who had been watching the 1975 Grand National (youtube) which Red Rum was attempting to win for a third consecutive time.

For a close-up of the engraved medallion, see Shankill Bombings.

Shankill Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Big Willie

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This is the new plaque to “William Morgan (Big Willie). Will always be remembered and sadly missed by all his mates in Tiger’s Bay. Murdered by cowards 11th July 2002. You will never be forgotten ‘big man’.”

Morgan was struck by a hit-and-run car on July 6th, 2002 and died in hospital five days later. The car is reported to have deliberately mounted the kerb where he was walking on North Queen Street and the attack was thought to have been sectarian, as the alleged driver and passenger were republicans and the car was found burned out in the New Lodge (NewsLetter | IndyMedia).

For the old plaque, see William Morgan.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Ar An Bhóthaır Fada Chun Na Saoırse

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Two IRA memorial plaques have been mounted on a wall in Herbert Street, Ardoyne, close to the Sammy McLarnon plaque:

“Óglach James McDade 24 July 1946 – 14 Nov 1974 died on active service, England; Óglach Gerard McDade 22 Nov 1950 – 21 Dec 1971 murdered by British Crown Forces. A Mháthaır na hÉıreann, fáısc [strain, draw tight] do bhéırt mhac, Séamus agus Geraóıd, le do chroí. Throıd sıad agus fuaır sıad bás. Mother Ireland, hold your sons, James and Gerard, close to your heart. They fought and they died.”

The McDade family lived in Ardoyne. James died while planting a bomb in Birmingham, England; Gerard was shot by a British Army soldier – there is a plaque to his memory in Beechmount. (Sutton)

“Óglach Frankie Donnelly 26 Aug 1954 – 5 Jan 1979 died on active service; Óglach Laurence Montgomery 12 June 1954 – 5 Jan 1979 died on active service. Níl sa saol seo ach tréımhse gaırıd ar an bhóthaır fada chun na saoırse [in this life there is only a short period on the long road to freedom] – life is but a short part on the long journey to freedom”

Donnelly and Montgomery were killed in Northwick Drive, Ardoyne, by the premature detonation of a car-bomb. (Sutton)

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Resistance

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The three images employed here are: a scene from Grafton Street in the Battle Of Dublin in the civil war (1922) (irishhistory.blogspot.com), PIRA volunteers on patrol in 1987 (top right), and (bottom left) a home-made rocket-launcher used in a 2014 attack on police (see, e.g. irishmirror.ie).

“There can never be peace in Ireland until the foreign, oppressive British presence is removed leaving all of the Irish people as a unit to control their own affairs and determine their destinies as a sovereign people, free in mind and body, separate and distinct physically, culturally and economically.” Bobby Sands (Prison Diary May 1st)

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Cumann Na mBan Centenary

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“Cumann Na mBan” in Irish is “the women’s organization/council/society” in English. The organization in question is the republican paramilitary group which was founded on April 2, 1914 and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014.

The mural is at the bottom of Teach Na bhFıann/Fianna House (formerly Dill House) in the New Lodge. 

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Set The Truth Free

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“Set The Truth Free” was the name of a campaign for justice and transparency concerning Bloody Sunday (see An Phoblacht | Pierce Youtube | Bell (2010)) but the numbers cited on this banner – “3,600 dead, 40,000 injured” – refer to the Troubles as a whole.

?Waterloo Place?, Derry

See previously: Set The Truth Free.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Cogús

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“Cogús” (Fb) or “conscience” is the prisoners’ welfare arm of the Republican Network For Unity (RNU).

The RNU web address along the bottom of both pieces no longer appears to function (Wayback); the organisation does have a Facebook page.

Rossville Street, Derry

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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