The Grens

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02787 2015-08-20 BangorTheGrens+

A tarpaulin celebrating the North Down Grenadiers (Fb) flute band has been added above the Red Hand Commando panels on the front of this house in Bangor’s Whitehill neighbourhood. (Compare the image above to M06398.) The emblems of both groups are very similar, featuring a red hand with wings. As well as the RHC emblem on the front gate, there is also a stone on the left dedicated to D. Company volunteers.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02787 Audentes fortuna iuvat – fortune favors the brave at the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them in memory of our fallen volunteers north down brigade D. Company lest we forget red hand wings star

Talk To The Hand

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02793 2015-08-20 Kincora+

The work above by TLO (featured previously in Demonizing Paisley, Ian Jong-un, and Wee Angel) comments on the long-running inquiry (or inquiries) into abuse at the Kincora boys home. Despite the conviction of several workers as a result of a 1980 RUC inquiry, the matter continues to resurface, with involvement alleged against British lords and notables, MI5, and loyalist paramilitaries. In the latest development, an appeal by campaigners to have Kincora included in the UK-wide sexual abuse inquiry was rejected (BBC-NI). In the poster above, a bloody red hand takes the place of the head above Mountbatten’s regimental uniform.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Three-In-One

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02792 2015-08-20 HolywoodUDAUFFUYM+

This trio of Ulster Defence Association, Ulster Freedom Fighters, and Ulster Young Militants boards are in Holywood, County Down. The overtly paramilitary UFF acts as the link between the others, in that the UDA and UYM emblems appear in miniature alongside its own. The UFF slogan “Ferriens tego” is missing from its board. The local troop is the North Down 2nd Batt. D Coy.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02792 quis separabit terrae filius

1st July 1916

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02781 2015-08-20 1stJuly1916Detail+

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.

02782 2015-08-20 1stJuly1916Full+

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02783 X02782

Pride Of Whitehill

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2015-08-20 BangorDavidGordon+

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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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02783 X02960 royal irish regiment sean barry lest we forget

On Wings Of Eagles

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2015-08-18 BloomfieldRHCFlag+

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.

2015-08-18 BloomfieldRHC+

2015-08-18 BloomfieldRHCWide+

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X02777 X02776 X02778 lámh dhearg abú

We Few

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2015-08-18 BangorRHCDetail+

“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

2015-08-18 BangorRHC+

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X02741 X02740 in memory of our fallen volunteers

IRPWA Prisoners

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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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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02770 [X02771]