7-12 May: Fallen Comrades of the IRSM
Fallen Comrades of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement ******* Jim Power Staff Officer - Irish National Liberation Army Killed in Action on 7 May 1981 Jim Power, age 21, was killed in the Markets area of South Belfast while working on an explosive device which had been intended for use against British military personnel. Born on 25 March 1960 in the Markets area, he joined the Official Irish Republican Army's youth wing at the age of eleven, acting as a scout and checking empty buildings for British undercover units. He joined the INLA in 1975. His brother Thomas, also an INLA staff officer, was assassinated by the counter-revolutionary Irish People's Liberation Organisation in 1987. Their mother Margaret was known for recording the song "Joe McCann" in tribute to the well-known Official IRA activist assassinated by the British Army in 1972. A memorial to Power and other comrades was unveiled in the Markets area of South Belfast on 11 May 2003. http://www.irsm.org/fallen/power/jim_power.html ******* Emmanuel "Matt" McLarnon Volunteer - Irish National Liberation Army Killed in Action on 12 May 1981 Emmanuel "Matt" McLarnon was 20 years old when he was shot by a British Army sniper from an observation post in West Belfast's Divis Flats. On active service at the time of his death, he fired on British soldiers just hours after it was announced that Provisional Irish Republican Army Volunteer Francis Hughes had died on hunger strike. McLarnon was acquainted with Hughes from when the two men served time together in a British jail. McLarnon died on the way to the Royal Victoria Hospital after the ambulance was deliberately held up at a British Army checkpoint even though the soldiers knew there was a severely wounded man inside. After his funeral Mass, six INLA volunteers stepped out of a doorway at St. Peter's Catholic Church and fired three volleys of shots into the air in tribute to their fallen comrade. Crowds gathered to pay their final respects as his funeral procession made its way to Milltown Cemetery. He joined the INLA in 1976. In 1979, he was briefly imprisoned in Belfast's Crumlin Road Jail (where he met Hughes) after he was arrested on charges of possessing two pistols and a grenade. At the time of his death, he was married with one child and his wife Rose was expecting a second child. A memorial to McLarnon and other comrades was unveiled in the Lower Falls area of West Belfast on 10 April 2003. http://www.irsm.org/fallen/mclarnon/ ******* They died as they lived: as Republican Socialists. Remember them with honour and pride.
Fallen Comrades of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement ******* Jim Power Staff Officer - Irish National Liberation Army Killed in Action on 7 May 1981 Jim Power, age 21, was killed in the Markets area of South Belfast while working on an explosive device which had been intended for use against British military personnel. Born on 25 March 1960 in the Markets area, he joined the Official Irish Republican Army's youth wing at the age of eleven, acting as a scout and checking empty buildings for British undercover units. He joined the INLA in 1975. His brother Thomas, also an INLA staff officer, was assassinated by the counter-revolutionary Irish People's Liberation Organisation in 1987. Their mother Margaret was known for recording the song "Joe McCann" in tribute to the well-known Official IRA activist assassinated by the British Army in 1972. A memorial to Power and other comrades was unveiled in the Markets area of South Belfast on 11 May 2003. http://www.irsm.org/fallen/power/jim_power.html ******* Emmanuel "Matt" McLarnon Volunteer - Irish National Liberation Army Killed in Action on 12 May 1981 Emmanuel "Matt" McLarnon was 20 years old when he was shot by a British Army sniper from an observation post in West Belfast's Divis Flats. On active service at the time of his death, he fired on British soldiers just hours after it was announced that Provisional Irish Republican Army Volunteer Francis Hughes had died on hunger strike. McLarnon was acquainted with Hughes from when the two men served time together in a British jail. McLarnon died on the way to the Royal Victoria Hospital after the ambulance was deliberately held up at a British Army checkpoint even though the soldiers knew there was a severely wounded man inside. After his funeral Mass, six INLA volunteers stepped out of a doorway at St. Peter's Catholic Church and fired three volleys of shots into the air in tribute to their fallen comrade. Crowds gathered to pay their final respects as his funeral procession made its way to Milltown Cemetery. He joined the INLA in 1976. In 1979, he was briefly imprisoned in Belfast's Crumlin Road Jail (where he met Hughes) after he was arrested on charges of possessing two pistols and a grenade. At the time of his death, he was married with one child and his wife Rose was expecting a second child. A memorial to McLarnon and other comrades was unveiled in the Lower Falls area of West Belfast on 10 April 2003. http://www.irsm.org/fallen/mclarnon/ ******* They died as they lived: as Republican Socialists. Remember them with honour and pride.