The Battle Of The Somme – named after a French river – began on July 1st, 1916 and went on until the 18th of November. In those four and half months more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded, including, on July 1st alone, about 60,000 British troops. The 36th (Ulster) Division, on the left flank, pushed ahead of other units and found itself unsupported; 5,240 of its soldiers died.
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Bangor native David Gordon Dalzell was killed at age 20 in Helmland Province, Afghanistan, in 2011, shot accidentally by one of his comrades as he was cleaning his weapon. For an account of his death, see BBC-NI. Dalzell’s ‘fatality’ notice can be read at the MOD. In the image above (and detailed below), the front of this Whitehill house carries the emblem of Dalzell’s Royal Irish regiment and a funeral piper.
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X02783 X02960 royal irish regiment sean barry lest we forget
Here are three images of small boards in the Bloomfield and Whitehill estates in Bangor, Co. Down: above, one from the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF); below, from the Red Hand Commandos (RHC); and finally, the Ulster Volunteer Force and Young Citizen Volunteers.
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X02775 X02788 X02789 for god and ulster shamrock red hand
“For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” This is a new (July 2014) Red Hand Commando mural in Bangor with RHC Youth and Red Hand Comrades Association insignia against a backdrop of Thiepval Tower and the Somme, with masked gunmen in the foreground and a border of poppies.
The quote is from Shakespeare’s Henry V, act 4, though the lines are reversed (Folger).
Ballyminetragh Gardens, Bangor
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X02741 X02740 in memory of our fallen volunteers
Here are three images of Red Hand Commando boards and flags in the Bloomfield estate. They both feature a red hand with eagle’s wings over a six-pointed star and on the flag, the motto (in crude Gaelic) “Lamh Derg Abu” – “Onward, Red Hand” or “Red Hand To Victory”. The loyalist paramilitary group declared an official end to activities in 2007 (BBC-NI) and decommissioned its weapons by 2009.
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X02777 X02776 X02778 lámh dhearg abú
Cut-out boards in the shapes of the red hand of Ulster (both left and right hands!), the five-pointed orange star (usually purple) of the Williamites, the crown of the British monarch, and King Billy on his steed line the fence along Bute Park in Ballybeen.
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UFF/UDA/UYM (North Down, 2nd battalion, D company) memorial mural in Bloomfield estate, Bangor, to Andrew McIlvenny and Roy Officer, with hooded gunmen on a bed of poppies flanking the UFF clenched fist.
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X02773 terrae filius quis separabit
The eagle (of the Red Hand Commando?) pulls back one UVF flag to reveal … an earlier UVF mural. Close-up below.
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X02767 X02768 ulster for all a. company 1st battalion 1912 YCV for god and ulster ballyree ballyminetragh
The IRPWA (tw | Fb) placed the names of prisoners currently held in Maghaberry in the barbed wire above the so-called “international” wall. Barbed wire is the symbol of republican prisoners though this barbed wire is used to protect Andrews Flour. Above, you can see the boards for Harkin, Mellon and McGilloway.
The full list, from left to right: Seamus Kearney, Gerard McManus, Nathan Hastings, Mark McGuigan, Sean Kelly, Barry Concannon, Damien Harkin, Thomas Mellon, Martin McGilloway, Jason Ceulemans, Gavin Coney, Liam O’Donnell, Neil Hegarty, Jon Paul Wooton, Martin Kelly, Colin Duffy, Harry Fitzsimons, Christopher O’Kane, Tarlach MacDhomhnaill, Seamus McLaughlin, Gavin Coyle, Brendan McConville, Kevin Barry Nolan.
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Charles, Prince Of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess Of Cornwall, will visit Ireland north and south this week (beginning in Belfast on Monday 23rd). The éırígí stencil and flyer shown above are from last year’s visit to the north, at the start of which he shook hands with Gerry Adams (BBC-NI). Charles is the titular head of the parachute regiment, which served in Northern Ireland from the late sixties to the nineties, including in Derry during Bloody Sunday.
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 