Send Them Home

This entry provides an update to the images seen in Paddy Duffy’s collection under the title An Ideology Of Hate from the beginning of May, 2026. Compared to those images, the banner above – “Our brave soldiers didn’t die for this invasion – Send them home” – replaces the “Ulster Carrickfergus Loyalists” and “Unite and fight” banners.

The banner above is similar in theme and elements to the large board seen in Sorry It Was All For Nothing: an elderly veteran kneels beside grave-stones with red Christain crosses, in the presence of men carrying the flag of the Islamic Republic Of Pakistan. They are also both products of AI.

Second, “We are united as one & united we shall remain. Never surrender.” with the flags of the “four nations” that make up the current United Kingdom.

Third, Glen Quinn – see Remember Me.

Fourth, “Christ is king. Stand up to radical Islam. Islam is not a race – it’s an ideology of hate.” The language is echoed in the controversial board recently mounted at the bottom of Rathfern, in Newtownabbey – see A New Evil.

For “Ulster Carrickfergus Loyalists”, see No Illegal Immigrants in the Paddy Duffy collection.

Woodburn Avenue, Carrickfergus

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Ulster Carrickfergus Loyalists patrolled area – keeping our women and children safe

Sword Beach, June 6th 1944

The plaque in the bottom-right corner reads, “Dedicated to Sergeant George Arthur Horner 27/03/1927 Royal Ulster Rifles 14464865 — “Carrickfergus’ Oldest Veteran” and to all other veterans who served in HM Armed Forces.” Horner turned 99 a few days after this mural of D-Day was unveiled (on March 22nd) and he was awarded the freedom of Mid- And East-Antrim Borough (web). He served in the second battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and landed on Sword Beach during the D-Day landings in June 1944 (Fb).

Painted by DanK (web) in Carnhill Walk, Castlemara, Carrickfergus, replacing 100 Years Of The Covenant.

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Monica De Wichfeld

“Monica de Wichfeld, heroine of the resistance, daughter, mother, wife”. The blue plaque to Monica Massy-Beresford is at the Kinawley Holy Trinity church in Derrylin, Fermanagh, (Street View), near where she grew up. She moved to Denmark upon her marriage and had a long and varied career in the Danish resistance to the German occupation in WWII, raising money for the Communists, using her estate to shelter fleeing families and receive arms and train volunteers, and eventually heading the regional group on Lolland (WP).

Castlemara Drive, Carrickfergus

“Monica Massy-Beresford was born in London on 12th July 1894 to George and Alice and, at only ten years old, was brought back to the family home, St Hubert’s on the shores of Upper Lough Erne. Boats were the most common mode of transport in the area and Monica, who had three brothers, grew up as a skilled boatwoman with the reputation of being a tomboy. In April 1914, she accompanied her father when he went to Larne to bring back arms from the Clyde Valley for the Fermanagh Volunteers. … On 15th June 1916, Monica married a Danish nobleman called Jorgen de Wichfeld with whom she had two sons and a daughter. The family lived on the Danish island of Lolland and, despite occasional financial problems, wintered in the south of France and Italy. Although her brother’s death had instilled in Monica a passionate hatred of Germans, she had a lengthy affair with Kurt Huagwitz-Reventlow, who had served as an officer in the First World War. Nevertheless, her marriage lasted. … At the outbreak of the Second World War, Monica was living in Italy and did not return to Denmark until 1941. Despite a non-aggression pact having been signed by the two countries, Germany had invaded Denmark in 1940. Without the knowledge of her husband, Monica was soon helping the Danish Resistance with the help of her daughter Varinka who would later marry the Danish Resistance leader Flemming Muus.
“She was involved in fundraising and spreading propaganda through the underground press. She assisted in the provision of munitions with the lakes around her home being used for air drops. She helped escapees such as saboteurs and the nuclear physicist Niels Bohr, who eventually reached the United States and played a leading roll [role] in the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bombs, used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, on 13th January 1944, she was arrested by the Gestapo, having been betrayed by a parachutist whom she had helped. On 31st March, these was an escape attempt which failed as a member of the Gestapo who was supposed to help was paid in advance and instead got drunk on the proceeds. On 13th May, she was condemned to death but, such were the protests at the first death sentence passed on a woman in Denmark in centuries and the sister of a British Brigadier General that the Germans hoped she would appeal. She refused on the grounds that her male comrades were not allowed to do so. Nevertheless she was reprieved and spent several months being transported to Germany and moved around several prison camps there before finally being housed in Waldheim Lutheran Church. But her ordeal had taken a toll on her health and she passed away there on 27th February 1945, only six weeks before she would have been freed by the Soviets.”

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Sua Sponte

The 1st Ranger Battalion was formed in 1942 as the United States Army’s equivalent to the British Army’s Commandos and – after training at a camp in Carrickfergus – it saw action in France (at Dieppe (SOF History), resulting in the first US casualties of the war – WP), Algeria, Tunisia, and Italy. (There are four information panels at the Sunnylands shops about the formation and training of the unit.)

The insignia shown – which is here placed on top of the beret patch – is the insignia of the modern (75th Regiment) Rangers, with the lightning-bolt indicating the unit’s quick-strike abilities (SOF History); these are also alluded to by the motto “sua sponte”, meaning “of its/their own accord”.

This new art is by Dan Kitchener (web) in Victoria Parade, Carrickfergus, just outside the train station, produced in co-operation with Wonder Arts, the Communities In Transition programme from the Executive Office (web) and Carrickfergus Alternatives’ Peace Impact Programme (Fb).

It has been criticized by street-artist Wee Nuls (web) as glorifying conflict (ig), a charge the artist rejects, saying that it was produced in co-operation with locals and has been well received by them (MSN). (See also the reactions on the Let’s Talk Loyalism Fb page.)

The tank might be the M4 Sherman “Fury”. The tank appeared in the 2014 film of the same name (Bovington Tank Museum) used by the 66th Armor Regiment under the command of Brad Pitt; the film is perhaps the inspiration for the image (e.g. the scene in which the town of Kirchohsen is captured – youtube).

“Great love hath no man than this: to lay down his life for his friends – John 15:13”

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Those Who Gave Their Lives

Wreaths were laid for Remembrance Sunday at the base of the stone on Marine Highway in Carrickfergus, “erected in A.D. 1972 as a memorial to those citizens of the borough who gave their lives in two World Wars, 1914-1918, 1939-1945 and in subsequent conflicts.”

Among those laying wreaths were Mid- And East-Antrim Borough Council, UDR Veterans’ Association, RBP 17, PSNI, Woodburn junior LOL 258, Retired Police Officers’ Association, Ulidia Integrated College, DUP, PUP, UUP, ABOD, Royal Arch Purple, and others.

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In The Service Of Our Country

These are images of people collecting for Andy Allen Veterans Support (web) on the Shankill, Belfast. At its peak (in 1973) the UDR had more than 9,000 personnel (Statista). The UDR was amalgamated into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992 and a 2005 estimate put the number of its veterans at about 58,000 (Veterans Services NI).

The title of the post comes from a UDR memorial in Carrickfergus.

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Royal Visits To Carrickfergus

William was granted the peerage “baron Carrickfergus” as a wedding present in 2011, which made Catherine/Kate baroness (WP). They visited the town in 2022 (BBC). The black-and-white photograph on the left is of Queen Elizabeth visiting in 1961 (youtube).

Replaces the kids mural We Are Friends in Hawthorn Avenue, Carrickfergus.

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Love, Marriage, And Country

This Castlemara, Carrickfergus, board is notable for its background, which follows that of old coronation and jubilee portraits. These would show the royal couple (and sometimes immediate family) in plush surroundings and standing in front of chairs. This style of composition has been seen in murals of George V’s jubilee in 1935 and George VI’s coronation in 1937 — see Visual History 01. In this board, however, Philip and Elizabeth are portrayed in old age and are not in coronation gear; the chairs shown are from the Throne Room in Buckingham Palace.

Also notable is that the board replaces a UDA mural – see Joint Manoeuvres. The other UDA mural in the estate — Carrickfergus Eddie — has also been replaced.

For the UVF/YCV gunmen in the background of the wide shot, see Out Of The Trenches.

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The Zombie-Slayer

This Castlemara, Carrickfergus, board is not remarkable so much for what it depicts — the new prince and princess of Wales, “baron & baroness of [sic] Carrickfergus” — but for what it replaces, namely, the Carrickfergus Eddie, which had been in place since (at least) 2000 — see Show No Mercy.

This means that there are no large murals of Eddie remaining; there are only some smaller versions of Eddie of boards or tarps. Eddie has his own Visual History page.

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Castlemara Celebrates

Castlemara residents’ various emotions are on display at the entrace to the estates: celebrating the jubilee of Elizabeth II, the coronation of Charles III, the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921, and Rangers’ 55th league title; saluting Tom Moore; commemorating Prince Philip, 1921-2021; and remembering with gratitude the “100th anniversary of the Battle Of The Somme”: “We must not forget what they gave so we may live. Let not their deaths be in vain. Lest we forget.”

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