Desmond "Dessie" Grew (14 September 1953 – 9 October 1990) was a

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

in the East Tyrone Brigade of the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA). Grew was killed by undercover Special Air Service soldiers in

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

in 1990 along with fellow IRA volunteer,

Martin McCaughey Gerard Patrick Martin McCaughey (24 February 1967 – 9 October 1990) was a Sinn Féin councillor and Volunteer (Irish republican), volunteer in the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade, East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army ...

who was also a

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

councillor.

Background

Grew was the second eldest in a family of seven girls and four boys born to Kathleen and Patrick Grew. He was educated at primary level at Knockaconey Primary School and at secondary level at his local Christian Brothers School (CBS), where he obtained the highest grades at both "O" and "A" levels. Grew was deeply interested in

Irish culture The culture of Ireland includes language, literature, music, art, folklore, cuisine, and sport associated with Ireland and the Irish people. For most of its recorded history, Irish culture has been primarily Gaelic (see Gaelic Ireland). It has ...

: he spoke the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

fluently and represented both his school and local parish Gaelic football teams. The Grews originally lived in a predominantly

Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a u ...

area and their family home was attacked on a number of occasions. It was eventually burnt down in 1972. The Grew family then moved to the outskirts of

Charlemont, County Armagh Charlemont ( Irish: ''Achadh an Dá Chora'', "field of the two weirs") is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It sits on the right bank of the River Blackwater, five miles northwest of Armagh, and is linked to the neighbouring ...

, a village southeast of Moy, where again the home was burnt down as a result of a bomb attack in which six of the Grew children were injured.

Paramilitary career

During his adult life Dessie Grew was a highly active member of the Irish National Liberation Army and the IRA.Jack Holland
"INLA emerges again in Armagh"
Irish Echo. Retrieved on 8 February 2007. An arrest warrant for Grew had been issued by German police on suspicion of the murder of RAF communications operative Corporal Maheshkumar 'Mick' Islania and his six month old daughter, Nivruti Islania, in West Germany in 1989. Grew was shot dead along with

in an operation by undercover British soldiers. The British Army's

14 Intelligence Company The Special Reconnaissance Unit, also known as the 14 Field Security and Intelligence Company (internally "The Det") was a part of the British Army Intelligence Corps involved in plainclothes operations in Northern Ireland from the 1970s onwa ...

, which was a secret undercover intelligence unit, also known as the DET, were monitoring three

AK47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms de ...

s at a farm building in this rural part of County Armagh and were aware that Grew and McCaughey were due to remove the guns. As the pair approached an agricultural shed which was being used to grow mushrooms and also thought to have been an IRA arms dump, as many as 200 shots are believed to have been fired at them. Autopsy results showed Grew had 48 bullet wounds and McCaughey 12. British Army reports of the shooting stated that the two men left the shed holding two rifles. Republican sources state the men were unarmed. His brother Seamus Grew had also been killed in disputed circumstances by an undercover E4A squad on the outskirts of Armagh in 1982. Grew had stated weeks before his death that in the event of his death that he wished to be laid beside Seamus. In line with his wishes, Grew was buried at Armagh City cemetery in October 1990. Gerry Adams gave the oration at his funeral, calling him "a freedom fighter, a patriot and a decent upstanding Irish citizen".

Aftermath

The family of McCaughey claimed that Grew and McCaughey were ambushed after a stake out by the SAS. In January 2002, Justice Weatherup, a Northern Ireland High Court Judge ordered that official military document relating to the shooting should be disclosed. However, PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde had the ruling overturned on appeal in January 2005.Unknown
"Families of IRA men killed by British forces file lawsuit at House of Lords "
, ''

Evening Echo ''The Echo'', formerly known as the ''Evening Echo'', is an Irish morning newspaper based in Cork. It is distributed throughout the province of Munster, although it is primarily read in its base city of Cork. The newspaper was founded as a bro ...

'', 17 January 2007. Retrieved on 8 February 2007 In April and May 2012, an inquest in front of a jury was held. Reaching its verdict after hearing weeks of evidence, the jury ruled that the SAS had used "reasonable force" during the operation and that the IRA men's own actions had contributed to their deaths.

References

;General * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grew, Dessie 1953 births 1990 deaths Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Irish National Liberation Army members Irish republicans Irish language activists People from County Armagh People killed by security forces during The Troubles (Northern Ireland) People killed in United Kingdom intelligence operations Provisional Irish Republican Army members Republicans imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict

Background

Paramilitary career

Aftermath

See also

References