WWII – Extramural Activity

Sua Sponte

2025-11-102025-11-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

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

2025-11-102025-11-11Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Wreaths were laid for Remembrance Sunday at the base of the stone on Maritime Drive 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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They Served This Land

2025-06-022025-06-30Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“The ‘Ulster Military Memorial Arch’ was funded by the generosity of the local business community, local residents, and our friends from Scotland. The arch was designed entirely by the people of the Greater Shankill, and erected to coincide with the 80th anniversary of VE Day 8th May 1945 – 8th May 2025. Our servicemen and women are proudly remembered.” For images of the VE Day launch, see the BelTel.

Pictured on Peter’s Hill side of the arch (bearing the quote “With pride and loyalty they served this land”) are (left to right) …
Private Bernard McQuirt (a VC winner in 1858 during the Indian Rebellion) and Lt Colonel John Henry Patterson
Monica De Wichfeld (raised in Fermanagh and Danish resistance member), Jessie Roberts (a nurse for the Ulster Volunteers and (in WWI) for the Volunteer Aid Detachment, serving in Birmingham and in Wimereux, France; she gets a very long entry on the info panels around the legs of the arch, as her biography is not available on-line), a (unidentified) nurse, Corporal Channing Day (a medic killed in Afghanistan, 2012), Princess Elizabeth
Private William Frederick McFadzean and Sergeant Robert Quigg
the tomb of “the unknown warrior” (central panel)
Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis and Lt Colonel Robert Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne
Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke and Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery
Field Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson and Sir James Craig

On the other/Shankill side of the arch, bearing the quote “Throughout the long years of struggle … the men and women of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die”, the ‘WWII’ panel includes (top right) Warrant Officer David O’Neill, a Canadian Air Force pilot hailing from Ballymena, lost in 1943, and the ‘Northern Ireland’ panel features (left) Corporal Heather CJ Kerrigan, a UDR Greenfinch killed by the IRA in 1984. These two are also profiled in the info panels around the legs of the arch, along with Corporal Bryan James Budd, a 3rd Para soldier killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, 2006.

Also included is JF Willcocks’s poem Poppies (sometimes called The Inquisitive Mind Of A Child): Why are they selling poppies, Mummy? Selling poppies in town today./The poppies, child, are flowers of love. For the men who marched away./But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy? Why not a beautiful rose?/Because my child, men fought and died in the fields where the poppies grow./But why are the poppies so red, Mummy? Why are the poppies so red?/Red is the colour of blood, my child. The blood that our soldiers shed./The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy. Why does it have to be black?/Black, my child, is the symbol of grief. For the men who never came back./But why, Mummy are you crying so? Your tears are giving you pain./My tears are my fears for you my child. For the world is forgetting again.”

At Conor’s Corner, and next to the (increasingly incongruous) Geisha street-art, on the Shankill.

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From D-Day To VE Day

2025-05-262025-06-10Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

39 Allied divisions – 12 of them British – participated in the Normandy Landings – officially “Operation Neptune” – that took place on June 6th, 1944; in planning for the operation, the original “D-Day” was June 5th, but bad weather postponed it until the following day, when 160,000 troops stormed the beaches of the Bay Of The Seine. By the end of August, Paris had been liberated, and by the following May, victory in Europe had been achieved. 2024 was the eightieth anniversary of D-Day and 2025 the eightieth anniversary of VE Day, on May 8th.

This D-Day board and VE Day mural are in Edlingham Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Also included below is a WWI memorial electrical box opposite, though as can be seen from the board (immediately below) the ‘graveside mourner’ silhouette is becoming a generic symbol of lost UK forces.

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A Sword Against Tyranny

2025-05-082025-05-24Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

World War II ended in Europe at 11 p.m. on May 8th, after Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Allied forces. The date was dubbed “Victory In Europe Day” or “VE Day” and this year (2025) marks its eightieth anniversary. For the occasion, this Shankill Road shop-window has been decorated with sandbags and camouflage netting, along with a vintage photograph of the residents of nearby “Wiltton” [Wilton] Street from the summer of 1945.

The text on the poster (lower down the road) reads: “‘My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not the victory or of any class, it’s a victory of the Great British people as a whole. We were the first, in these ancient isles, to draw the sword against tyranny.’ – Prime Minister Winston S Churchill”. The lines come from brief remarks Churchill made to the crowds assembled at the Ministry Of Health in London – the text can be found at Forces News; Pathé newsreel of Churchill’s earlier radio announcement of the end of the war can be found on youtube.

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Royal Irish Rifles

2023-09-182025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

After WWI, the Royal Irish Rifles became the Royal Ulster Rifles (and later became part of the Royal Irish Rangers). This board prioritises WWI as the Rifles were part of the 36th Division. The hero of WWI portrayed in the central panel is William McFadzean, awarded the VC for falling on two live grenades in the trenches on July 1st, 1916. McFadzean is familiar from many previous murals both individually and in the company of other VC winners; for his family home in Cregagh, see Rubicon.

Alongside McFadzean, the hero of WWII is Blair “Paddy” Mayne, who was only briefly in the Ulster Rifles before making his name in the Parachute Unit (later, and better, known as the SAS). His many medals of honour are shown in an old Newtownards mural though he was denied the VC.

Ballysillan Road, north Belfast.

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Type 24 Pillbox

2023-06-242025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

During the second World War, six basic designs for pillboxes, numbered from ‘Type 22’ to ‘Type 27’ were promulgated by the division of Fortifications And Works as part of anti-invasion planning (WP). This Type 24 is still standing in a corner of the Oval grounds in east Belfast. This image – showing the door – is of the rear of the pillbox; the anticipated line of attack was along Belfast Lough.

“The Oval’s Type-24. In the early hours of the 5th of may the German Luftwaffe (air force) attacked a number of targets in the heart of Belfast. This ‘Type 24’ military pillbox was one of the defence positions around the city which was manned on that morning by a platoon of soldiers of the Gloucestershire Regiment who were based at nearby Victoria Park. … The Oval, the home of Glentoran Football Club was reduced to smouldering rubble as bombs and incendiary mines landed on an area perceived by German intelligence to be an oil storage facility adjacent to both Harland and Wolff shipyard and Short Brothers aircraft factory.”

The Long Hard March To Allied Victory

2023-06-232025-01-08Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“”From here started the long hard march to allied victory” Dwight D. Eisenhower. “Opposite this point was the gathering area for a massive convoy of mixed ships which sailed to arrive at the beaches of Normandy on D-Day 6th. June 1944.”” US naval vessels gathered in Belfast Lough and Commander Thomas Keane (photo) was residing at the Royal hotel in Bangor (WartimeNI). General Eisenhower inspected the USS Quincy at Bangor on 19th May, 1944, (WartimeNI). Bangor’s North Pier was renamed Eisenhower Pier in 2004.

The quote is from August, 1945, when Eisenhower received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s (WartimeNI).

Seymour Hill In The Wars

2023-01-112025-01-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Seymour Hill WWII mural will be 14 years old this coming July (2023) but it is hanging on fairly well. It is quite faded – especially the parachutes at the top – but there is no graffiti on the wall itself, only on the wall below it. For the mural when new and information about the US camp and portrait of Colditz prisoner William Harbinson, see M04776.