Sadsack's blog: "Ulster Volunteer Force"

This speech was read out by the commanding officer C Company 1st Belfast Battalion Sunday 11th November 2001 WE ARE STANDING HERE TODAY TO REMEMBER OUR FALLEN COMRADES VOLUNTEERS CHAPMAN, McGREGOR, McINTYRE, HANNAH, WADSWORTH, FREEL, RIDINGS, MORELAND, McCULLOUGH, REYNOLDS, AND MARTIN. THESE BRAVE MEN FOUGHT THE REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT JUST LIKE THE MEN OF THE 36TH ULSTER DIVISION WHO FOUGHT IN FLANDERS FIELDS SO MANY YEARS AGO. THE OFFICERS AND VOLUNTEERS OF C COMPANY 1ST BELFAST BATTALION SHALL NEVER FORGET THESE BRAVE MEN AND THE ACTION THEY TOOK IN THE DEFENCE OF OUR COUNTRY. IN 1912 WITH ULSTER IN UPROAR AT ATTEMPTS TO ENFORCE TYRANNY UPON THE LOYALIST PEOPLE OF THIS PROVINCE, IN BARS AND BACK ROOMS THE SEEDS OF RESISTANCE WERE SOWN, AND SOON THE PUBLIC WOULD SEE A NEW FORCE, A FORCE THAT WOULD SHAPE THE HISTORY OF ULSTER FOR NEARLY A CENTURY. WITH CARSON AND CRAIG GUIDING THE POLITICAL FORTUNES OF ULSTER, RICHARSON AND CRAWFORD SET ABOUT TO REALISE THE DREAM OF A VIABLE DEFENCE FOR THE PROVINCE, AND SHOULDER TO SHOULDER THE POLITICAL AND MILITARY DIVISIONS OF OUR MIGHT MARCHED FOURTH TO BATTLE. WITH EUROPE IN TURMOIL, CARSONS VOLUNTEERS ENLISTED IN BRITIANS WAR EFFORT. WITH BRAVERY, LOYALTY AND THE ULTIMATE DEDICATION, THE FLOWER OF ULSTERS MANHOOD WOULD FALL IN THEIR THOUSANDS TO SECURE THIS COUNTRYS FREEDOM, THERE EFFORTS IMMORTALISED IN BLOOD DRENCHED FIELDS ACROSS NORTHERN EUROPE. AS ULSTERMEN SACRIFICED ALL ON FOREIGN CAMPAINS THEIR ACTIONS INSTILLED A TRADITION OF RESILIENCE WHICH IT HAS MAINTAINED THROUGH OUT ITS RECENT HISTORY. IN THEATRES OF CONFLICT SPANNING THE WORLD IN ADDITION, HERE IN OUR HOMELAND, ULSTERS VOLUNTEERS RESISTED REPRESSION. BUT ALAS ONLY THROUGH REFLECTION CAN THE TRUTH BE GAINED. IN 1912 CARSONS VOLUNTEERS WERE MALIGNED, DESPISED ATTACKED AND REFUTED, HISTORY HAS VINDICATED THERE ACTIONS, AND THROUGH THE ANNALS OF HISTORY, ULSTER'S FIRST DEFENDERS HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED AS THE HEROS THEY WERE, JUSTIFIED IN THEIR ACTIONS, SURE OF THEIR CAUSE AND TRUE IN THEIR AIMS. LET US NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF HISTORY, NOR THE POWER OF PROPAGANDA IN TODAY'S MURKY WORLD OF MYTH AND DECEIT. THE MEN I HAVE NAMED ARE BUT A FEW IN THE BLOOD DRENCHED HISTORY OF ULSTER. WE IN THE ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE OWE IT TO THESE BRAVE VOLUNTEERS, TO CONTINUE IN THE DEFENCE OF OUR HOME LAND. DO NOT GAZE AT THIS MEMORIAL AND FEEL ONLY PAIN, BUT ALSO FEEL PRIDE, BUT FOR THESE VOLUNTEERS AND SO MANY OTHERS LIKE THEM, ULSTER WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST. VOLUNTEERS WITHOUT WHOM WE WOULD NOT BE STANDING HERE TODAY. AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is a Loyalist paramilitary group that was formed in 1966. The group adopted the name of the previous UVF which was formed in 1912 to oppose, by armed force, the arrangements for Home Rule in Ireland. Potential conflict in Ireland was averted by the First World War and many of the members of the then UVF joined the British Army's 36th (Ulster) Division and fought - and died in large numbers - on the battlefields of the Somme. The aim of the present UVF is to ensure that Northern Ireland's constitutional position within the United Kingdom is secure. The re-established UVF was opposed to the reform that were being considered in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As Loyalist paramilitary groups often did not claim responsibility for the killings they committed and on many occasions used pseudonyms, it is difficult to give an accurate count of the number of people killed by each organisation. However, the UVF has been responsible, over a period of almost 30 years, for scores of assassinations in Northern Ireland, mostly of innocent Catholics. The UVF is also believed to have been responsible for the greatest loss of life in a single day when it planted bombs in Dublin and Monaghan on 17 May 1974 killing 33 innocent people. In May 1966 the UVF killed a Catholic man in the Falls Road, Belfast. On 26 June 1966 Peter Ward (18), who was working as a barman in a pub in the Shankill Road, Belfast, was shot dead as he left work. Augustus ('Gusty') Spence was sentenced to life imprisonment for this killing. In the early 1970s the main centres of UVF influence were the Shankill area of Belfast, East Antrim, and parts of County Armagh. In April 1974 Merlyn Rees, then Secretary of Sate for Northern Ireland, removed the proscription on the UVF (making it a legal organisation) in an attempt to encourage it to move towards constitutional politics. However, on 2 October 1975 the UVF carried out a number of attacks in which 12 people died, 6 of them were Catholic civilians. On 3 October 1975 the UVF was once again 'proscribed'. On 5 October 1975 the security forces swooped on a number of houses in Belfast and East Antrim and arrested 26 suspected UVF men. In March 1977 the men were sentenced to a total of 700 years imprisonment. In April 1983 Joseph Bennett, who was a commander in the UVF, became an informer giving the RUC information which lead to the conviction of 14 leading members of the UVF. In the coming years the UVF was to suffer from the effects of further informers. During the 1990s the UVF had a particularly active unit in the Portadown area of Northern Ireland which was responsible for the killing of many innocent Catholics. The UVF became a part of the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) in 1991 (?). In 1996 a number of disaffected 'maverick' members of the mid-Ulster brigade of the UVF broke away to form the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is considered to be the source of political analysis for the UVF. The UVF declared a ceasefire on 13 October 1994; the announcement of the ceasefire by the CLMC was made by 'Gusty' Spence. During the late 1990s and into the 2000s the UVF was accussed of involvement in many killings. The UVF also engaged in internal disputes and fueds with the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and more particularly the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Following a series of killings in July and August in 2005 the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland specified the UVF on 14 September 2005. [Estimates of the level of membership and the size of the arsenal of weapons available to the UVF are difficult to make. The UVF may have reached its high point with a membership of approximately 1,500 in the early 1970s. It is probable that the UVF currently has several hundred members many of whom would provide support to those who actually carry out attacks. The UVF is believed to have access to AK-47 rifles, pistols, and revolvers. It also believed to have a small number of RPG-7 rocket launchers. The UVF has also used stolen Powergel mining explosive in a number of attacks some of which were launched in the Republic of Ireland.] Membership: Membership of the UVF is estimated to be up to several hundred, with a smaller number being 'active' members. Arsenal: 200 AK-47 rifles, Uzi machineguns, and machine pistols (also home-made submachine guns); dozens of pistols and revolvers. The UVF also has a small number of RPG-7 rocket launchers and a small amount of Powergel (commercial plastic explosive), some of which has been used in occasional bomb attacks in the Republic of Ireland.

In memory of fallen volunteers we stand here proud of an army such as ours we are the peoles army since 1912 to present day For they shall not grow old as we are left grow old age shall not weary nor the years condem at the going down of the sun and in the morning This is dedicated to the officers and volunteers of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando for their dedication and sacrifices over the years. NO SURRENDER. "For as long as one hundred of us remain alive, we shall never in any way consent to submit to the rule of the Irish, for it’s not for glory we fight, but for freedom alone, which no man loses but his life" PREPARED FOR PEACE, READY FOR WAR U.V.F. - The Peoples Army - Y.C.V. FOR GOD AND ULSTER Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. ___=//""""\ |....__UvF-------- |=|",",","::::::=="---- |_---"""/_/-'""" U. V. F. " STILL UNDEFEATED " "READY TO DEFEND ULSTER WHEN NEEDED" The following are the men of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Red Hand Commando who have given their lives in the defence of Ulster: A Coy 1st BATT: Billy Aitken, Bobby "Basher" Bates, Billy Boomer , George Brown, Alec Cowell, Davy Hamilton, Hugh Harris, Tucker Keenan, Noel Kinner, Charlie Logan, Frenchie Marchant, Bo McClelland, Herbie McCollum, Lenny Murphy, Tommy West . B Coy 1st BATT: Jamesie Boreland, Trevor King, Brian Robinson, Bobby Spence. C Coy 1st BATT: Tommy Chapman, Billy Hanna, Robert MacIntyre, Jim McGregor, Robert Wadsworth. D Coy 1st BATT: John Bingham, Tommy Stewart, Roy Suitors. East Belfast: Robert Bennett, Joe Cordner, Joe Long, Robert "Squeak" Seymour. South Belfast: John Hanna, Ken Lenaghan, Davy McNaught, Willy Millar. 3rd BATT Tigers Bay: Colin Caldwell, Jackie Evans, Jackie Irvine, Joe Shaw. South Down: Tommy McDowell, Charlie Watson. North Down: Billy Lightbody. Larne: Andy Cairns, Sinclair Johnson. East Antrim: Tommy Mawhinney, George Sloan. Mid-Ulster: Harris Boyle, Derek McFarland, J Neill, Wesley Somerville. Londonderry: Mark Dodds, Geoffrey Freeman, Aubrey Reid, Davy Swanson. 4th Battalion Liverpool Lee Irwin, John Webster. Red Hand Commando: Stevie McCrea, John McKeague, Sammy Mehaffey, Sammy Neill, Billy Strain. Many men have not not been mentioned here, and there'll be many more to come, each and every one of them true loyal Ulster sons. For they shall not grow old, as those who were left behind grow old. Age shall not weary them, or the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we WILL remember them.

LOYALIST PLEDGE If the Provos os the pan-nationalist and the British and Irish governments keep trying to succeed in a United Ireland then they may prepare themselves for another 30 bloody years for the battles will just have begun. U.V.F. WE ARE THE PILGRIMS MASTER; WE SHALL GO ALWAYS A LITTLE FURTHER R.H.C. Lamh Dearg Abu ULSTERS DESTINY IS IN OUR HANDS, OUR GRIP IS TIGHT AND WE WON'T LET GO. Y.C.V. THE YOUNG, THE BRAVE AND THE FEARLESS LOYAL DEDICATION As the sun breaks through the mist and due, on a graveyard on a hill, as a piper plays midst the lonely graves and his notes are clear and shrill, as the air is rent with this sad lament, we remember those held dear, men who gave their word and took up the sword with the Ulster Volunteers, as the bugler blows over the graves and rows and the last post fades away, as reveille sounds over deaths parade ground, were our fallen comrades lie, with our standards proud, once their death bed shrouds, we will come from far and near to salute our dead and the roles they played with the Ulster Volunteers, as the sun gets low and the shadows grow on the head stones row upon row, as the night surrounds those hallowed grounds were our comrades lie below, you can hear the beat of their marching feat you may even feel them near, as they parade away at the end of day, the Ulster Volunteers! ULSTER My Ulster Pride I Will Not Hide My Ulster race I Will Not Disgrace My Ulster Blood Flows Hot And True My Ulster Peeps I Will Stand By You Through Thick And Thin Till The Day We Die Our Ulster Flag Always Stands So High I Shout This Poem Louder Than All The Rest Cause Everyone Knows We Prods Are The Best

On Saturday 27th June 1970, there were a series of violent republican attacks upon Orange parades as they paraded along Springfield Road, Ardoyne and the Newtownards Road. Stone throwers attacked the Loyalist marchers and spectators, mortally wounding a Woodvale protestant. On the Crumlin Road at the interface, the stone throwers dispersed to permit IRA gunmen to randomly open fire on the Loyalists. Three Loyalists fell dead whilst many were wounded. Later that day, IRA gunmen opened fire from the Chapel and killed another Loyalist. It was because of the events of that terrible day that a small group of young Loyalists from the Shankill and Oldpark, met in a house off Manor Street to band together and organise for the future. They needed arms and the wherewithal to oppose the IRA so they decided to meet secretly with John McKeague who, at that time, led the Shankill Defence Association from rooms over the Bricklayers Arms on the Shankill. Within a short time, the small group were joined by some existing members of the SDA and they quickly acquired some handguns and small arms from various sources. John McKeague introduced them to other Loyalists from East Belfast, North Down and soon other groups forged links with them. At a meeting one evening it was decided to adopt a name for the grouping. One youth suggested Red Hand. This was immediately accepted and they set out their two founding principles as being: - To fight to ensure that Ulster remains British To defend the Loyalist community from republican violence To this day, these two founding principles remain.

Formed to oppose the implementation of Home Rule by military force if necessary, James Craig and Sir Edward Carson were prominent members of its leadership. Guns were procured and landed at Larne in April 1914. The outbreak of World War 1 and the suspension of Home Rule resulted in the UVF becoming the 36th (Ulster) Division of the British Army. The division was all but wiped out in the Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916). The UVF was re-established in 1966by Gusty Spence, amongst others. It immediately declared war on the IRA but was banned by Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O`Neil in June of that year. It called a cease-fire in October 1994 under the auspices of the Combined Loyalist military Command. Since 1912 until the present day, the Ulster Volunteer Force has produced volunteers - both men and women - who had the courage and honour to make the supreme sacrifice of giving up their lives that others may have their religion, liberties, freedoms and laws safeguarded. Volunteers who suffered thousands of casualities and fatalities while fighting for King and Country in foreign lands during the First World War at a time when Britain denied them. Volunteers who laid down their lives whilst on active service in the war against the violent Irish Nationalist/Republican movement and those who were incarcerated in Crumlin Road, Longkesh, Magilligan and other concentration camps - their only crime being loyality. Volunteers who forced Sinn Fein/I.R.A. to withdraw their military actions in the shape of the present ceasefires brought about by methods of terrorizing the terrorist. A hard but necessary lesson for the violent Nationalist/Republican movement to learn and one which cost many lives to both sides. We salute them and hope they are never called upon again to make any futher sacrifices. FOR THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD. AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM