Raymond McCreesh
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Raymond McCreesh ( ga, Réamonn Mac Raois, 25 February 1957 – 21 May 1981) was an Irish
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 South Armagh 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). In 1976, he and two other IRA volunteers were captured while attempting to ambush a
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
observation post. McCreesh was one of the ten Irish republicans who died during the
1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special C ...
in the
Maze Prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sep ...
.Two Lives and Two Deaths for Ireland

1981 Hunger Strike Commemoration 40th Anniversary
/ref>


Background

Raymond Peter McCreesh, the seventh in a family of eight children, was born in St Malachy's Park,
Camlough Camlough ( ; ) is a village five kilometres west of Newry in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The village is named after a lake, known as Cam Lough, in the parish, which is about 90 acres in extent. South of the village is Camlough Mountain (Sli ...
, on 25 February 1957."Francis Hughes and Raymond McCreesh"
Republican News. 26 October 2011.
He was born into a strong Irish republican family, and was active in the republican movement from the age of 16. McCreesh attended the local primary school in Camlough, St Malachy's, and later attended St Colman's College in
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...
. Raymond first joined
Fianna Éireann Na Fianna Éireann (The Fianna of Ireland), known as the Fianna, is an Irish nationalist youth organisation founded by Constance Markievicz in 1909, with later help from Bulmer Hobson. Fianna members were involved in setting up the Irish Volun ...
, the IRA's youth wing, in 1973, and later that year he progressed to join the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade. McCreesh had worked for a short time as steelworker in a predominantly Protestant factory in Lisburn. However, as sectarian threats and violence escalated, he switched professions to work as a milk roundsman in his local area of South Armagh: an occupation which greatly increased his knowledge of the surrounding countryside, as well as enabling him to observe the movements of
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
patrols in the area.


Arrest

On 25 June 1976, McCreesh (aged 19) and three other IRA volunteers attempted to ambush a British Army
observation post An observation post (commonly abbreviated OP), temporary or fixed, is a position from which soldiers can watch enemy movements, to warn of approaching soldiers (such as in trench warfare), or to direct fire. In strict military terminology, an ...
(OP) in South Armagh. It lay opposite the Mountain House Inn, on the Newry–Newtonhamilton Road. As the armed, masked and uniformed IRA volunteers approached the OP, they were spotted by British paratroopers on a hillside. The paratroopers opened fire on the volunteers, who scattered. Two of them, McCreesh and Paddy Quinn, took cover in a nearby farmhouse. The paratroopers surrounded the house and fired a number of shots into the building.McKittrick, David. ''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women, and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles''. Mainstream, 1999. p.863 After some time, McCreesh and Quinn surrendered and were taken to
Bessbrook Bessbrook is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about three miles (5 km) northwest of Newry and near the Newry bypass on the main A1 Belfast-Dublin road and Belfast-Dublin railway line. Today the village of Bessbrook str ...
British Army base. The third volunteer, Danny McGuinness, had taken cover in a disused quarry outhouse but was captured the next day. The fourth member of the unit managed to escape despite being shot in the leg, arm and chest. Local
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priests facilitated their surrender.McFate, Montgomery (2014). ''Pax Britannica: British Counterinsurgency In Northern Ireland, 1969-1982''.Dewar, Michael. ''The British Army in Northern Ireland''. Guild Publishing.


Imprisonment and hunger strike

On 2 March 1977, McCreesh and Quinn were sentenced to fourteen years in prison for the attempted murder of British soldiers, possession of a rifle and ammunition, and a further five years for IRA membership. The rifle that McCreesh had in his possession when captured was one of those used in the
Kingsmill massacre The Kingsmill massacre was a mass shooting that took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Whitecross in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Gunmen stopped a minibus carrying eleven Protestant workmen, lined them up alongside it and s ...
on 5 January 1976, when 10 Protestant civilians were shot dead."Equality Commission to investigate play park IRA man naming". BBC News, 7 March 2013.
/ref> McCreesh was sent to the
Maze Prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sep ...
. He joined the
blanket protest The blanket protest was part of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners held in the Maze prison (also known as "Long Kesh") in Northern Ireland. The ...
and took part in the
1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special C ...
. He died on 21 May, after 61 days on hunger strike. One of the soldiers who captured McCreesh,
Lance Corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...
David Jones, was later killed by Francis Hughes, who died during the same hunger strike.


Raymond McCreesh Park

A Newry playground was named after McCreesh after a motion led by
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 ...
,
SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irela ...
and independent representatives on
Newry and Mourne District Council Newry and Mourne District Council ( ga, Comhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn) was a local council in Northern Ireland. It merged with Down District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Newry, Mourne a ...
was passed. Unionists were unhappy with this and appealed to the Equality Commission which called for an equality impact assessment in 2008. The council sub-committee responsible for the assessment decided that naming the park after McCreesh complies with their legal requirement to "promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different religious belief and political opinion". In 2013, it was announced that the decision to name the park after McCreesh would be formally investigated by the
Equality Commission for Northern Ireland The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (Irish language, Irish: ''Coimisiún Comhionannais do Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Equalitie Commission fer Norlin Airlan'') is a non-departmental public body in Norther ...
. It said its investigation would consider whether the council had failed to have due regard to the need to promote equality and good relations between people of different religious beliefs and political opinion. Nothing came of the investigation.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCreesh, Raymond 1957 births 1981 deaths Irish republicans Irish republicans imprisoned on charges of terrorism Irish people convicted of attempted murder People educated at St Colman's College, Newry People from County Armagh People who died on the 1981 Irish hunger strike Provisional Irish Republican Army members