UDA/UFF/UYM

To Keep Our Ulster Free

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“We have slain him but we fear him/As we stand in silence now/For the hero light still lingers/Like a lantern on his brow. And the wiles of witchcraft jeer him/With the phantoms of our dead/As they moil like may mosquitoes/Round his torn and bleeding head.” Cuchulainn is invoked as a “defender of Ulster” on the UDA memorial stone in the Kilcooley estate. The Red Hand Commando and UVF stones are shown below. The three paramilitary stones were added independently of the WWI garden (BelTel).

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04095 X04093 X04096 owernroe drive the death call of cuchulainn champion of ulster the sons of ulster’s best who have stood the test? would you take the oath with hand held high are you prepared to die to keep our ulster free it is up to you and me god save ulster is our cry would you weep if i should die remember me when poppies fall for our ulster i gave all tell me i have lived my life well and it has not all been in vain

North Down Defenders

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Here is a small board in Bangor from the North Down Defenders flute band  (Tw | Fb), unusual due to the modified Ulster banner with clenched red hand in the centre. Surrounding it are the flags of the LPA, UDA, UFF, and UYM.

Kearney Gardens, Kilcooley, Bangor.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04085 est 2004 quis separabit

Young Militants

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Ulster Young Militants (UDA youth wing) board on a wall in the lower Shankill estate that has painted over (multiple times) to cover graffiti.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04027 hopewell sq

As Long As 100 Of Us Remain Alive

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Here is the UDA/UFF mural on the left-hand gable of “Freedom Corner”. The mural is a 2015 repaint of the previous mural, which had to be replaced when it disintegrated. (See Freedom Corner for speculation as to the cause.) At the time, there was some disappointment that it was not repainted in a non-paramilitaristic fashion but defenders described the mural as “historical” (Tele).

The mural shows a UDA-jacketed volunteer with assault rifle and a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish for it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life – U.D.A./U.F.F”

From left to right: For Freedom Alone | As Long As 100 Of Us Remain Alive | Loyalist East Belfast | The Strangest Victory In All History | Ulster’s Past Defenders | Nationality is included in Loyalist East Belfast | Ulster’s Present Defenders | Freedom Corner

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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We Will Never Accept A United Ireland

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Writing has appeared alongside the “Show No Mercy Expect None Back” mural in Ballyclare. On one side : “We will never accept [was originally “except” but this was quickly changed] a united Ireland – Feriens Tego [the UFF motto]” and “Now entering loyalist Erskine/Rashee Park – Quis separabit [the UDA motto]” and on the other: “Ballyclare heartland of south east Antrim – Simply the best [used with both UDA and UFF]”

The final image is from July, when the wall had been ‘booked’ for the UDA.

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X05348 2016-07-06 UDA Booked+

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03847 X03846 X05348 erskine park

They Shall Not Grow Old

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“Remember With Pride” (with a poppy). Although the dates of his birth and death are given, Stevie “Top Gun” McKeag’s name appears only on the side-wall of this new mural in the Lower Shankill estate. McKeag was the top assassin in the UDA during the 1990s, claiming at least 12 victims. Both his WP page and this Guardian article describe his career and preeminent standing within the UDA.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03892 X03888 X03890 X03889  X03891 X03893 1st april 1970 24th september 2000 ulster young militants terrae filius 2nd batt c.13 shankill road military commander they shall not grow old those we love don’t go away they walk beside us every day sleeping where no shadows fall at the going down of the sun and in the morning remember with pride

Culture Night Belfast

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Pay the £5 “door tax” and you can attend the Fernhill Flute Band’s “Full night of loyalist culture” including “Blood And Thunder, Melody, DJ, disco, ballots, prizes, and more”.

(We’ll start posting images from that other culture night — #CNB16 — tomorrow.)

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03841 Shore Rd

UDA Flag-Bearer

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Rather than the Union flag that he carries in other murals and on the original Iron Maiden album cover (see The Trooper), in this version Eddie The Trooper carries a UDA flag (with the UFF symbol also shown). “AYM” is probably “Antiville Young Militants”.

See also Eddie’s Visual History page.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03788 Hampton Cr

Show No Mercy, Expect None Back

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Above and below are images from a new UFF/UDA/UYM mural in Ballyclare, featuring the Ulster banner and Union flag, and a quartet of hooded gunmen.

 A very similar slogan is used in an Eddie The Trooper mural in Carrickfergus.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X3808 X03807 Erskine Pk south east antrim SEA quis separabit UYM terrae filius

Drink A Loving Toast

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03766 2016-08-19 Kenneth Nicholl+

“Remember those not here today, And those unwell or far away, And those who never lived to see the end of the War & Victory, And every friend who’ve lost [or: passed] our way, Remember as of yesterday, It’s absent friends we miss the most, To ALL, Let’s drink a loving toast.”

William Walker’s poem Absent Friends is used as a part of UDA/UFF commemoration of various Larne men: “Ewan ‘Shug’ McPherson, Raymond ‘Toby’ Sloan, Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Nicholl (who is featured in a separate board, above; BBC-NI report of his killing), Ian ‘Big Ian’ Hamilton. Walker was a pilot during WWII who wrote poetry and returned to the brewing trade after the war; he died at age 99 in 2012 (Guardian).

Union flags with “Ulster Is British” have been added to the board seen previously in Her Majesty’s Forces In Afghanistan.

03767 2016-08-19 Drink A Loving Toast+

03774 2016-08-22 Ulster Is British+

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03766 X03767 X03774 X03768 Linn Road gone but not forgotten