Guest writer Sean Bresnahan narrating the events of a weekend commemoration in honour of IRA volunteer Dessie Morgan.


Silver gems that pierce the dark,
Heavenly virgins in disguise;
That stir the heart with love and flame
And light great flames in all men's eyes


On Sunday past I attended a 40th anniversary commemoration in memory of Brackaville man Dessie Morgan, a 19 year-old lad with a world of prospects and possibilities at his feet who sacrificed all of that to join the Republican Movement, that he might help protect and defend his community from the excesses of the illegal British occupation of our country. He died in defence of the people and the Irish Republic forty years ago today and it is only right and fitting that we remember and pay tribute to men like Dessie on occasions such as Sunday in Coalisland Graveyard and indeed today on the date of his anniversary.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.


To my mind it's something worth considering that behind every hero and martyr is a family and a human story, because although they died as heroes they were still but ordinary lads to those who called them brother, father, son - ordinary men who became extraordinary, shaped by the savageness of Britain's oppression and repression in the occupied six-counties. Their pain is still very much there so to stand today in solidarity with his mother and sister, who lost their only son and brother because of the political situation here, was a privilege and a sad reminder of the suffering our people have been forced to endure.

Dessie Morgan, like so many other young men in Tyrone of his generation, was compelled by the tragedy unfolding around him as war broke out in the six-counties to join the ranks of Oglaigh na hEireann. Conditioned by the riots that swept through Coalisland in the July of 1970 after the RUC sealed the town to facilitate a triumphalist Orange march he became an active member of the East Tyrone Brigade, despite being practically still a boy. When I heard his story today it brought back memories of another young Volunteer who's grave we visited earlier this summer, also 40 years dead having been killed on Active Service with his comrade Dan McAnallen during an attack on Pomeroy RUC Barracks in August 1973. Young Patsy Quinn was incredibly just sixteen years old when he lost his life trying to free his native land, having already by that stage, like so many other young men round these parts, proved himself a mature and committed Volunteer with no fear of those who sought to bring terror to our streets and towns.

The story of Tyrone's fight in the most recent phase of our struggle is sadly littered with examples of such young men, often still teenagers, who died because of a war not of their making and a singular determination to engage and to respond to those who brought that war to their communities and to pursue the struggle for Irish freedom that went hand-in-hand with that determination.

The great tragedy in all this is that such young men were denied their right to live out their lives like the rest of us. Dessie Morgan was no different than others of his generation; he enjoyed the craic, going to dances and the cinema with his peers. He was a qualified tradesman with a full-time job and he was a keen sportsman - especially when it came to lining out for his local club Brackaville Owen Roes, who he represented with a pride typical of those living in the shade of their more illustrious parish-rivals, Clonoe and Coalisland. Indeed they say a better left-foot could not be found in the whole of the county never mind the ranks of Junior football, where he applied his trade as a dependable corner-back who possessed the same grit and determination still associated today with the good people of that area. Dessie could have went on to do anything he wanted; to build a home, raise a family, pass on his skills on the football field to the generations that were to follow him onto the sod of O'Brien Park, the kind of things we all take for granted. But the terrorist war the British state prosecuted against our people meant it could never be so.

This to me is the greatest tragedy of what happened here, that such young lads were denied such basic, run-of-the-mill norms and that their families suffered the terrible loss of a loved one gone long, long before their time. It should never have happened.

It was great to see people turn out in their droves to remember Dessie and to stand shoulder to shoulder with his loved one's, to let them know that he is more than a name on the Roll of Honour to us, that he is our comrade, our friend, our inspiration, our guiding light. Well done to those in the local Eamonn Ceannt Society and the wider Republican Movement for organising such a dignified and fitting event yet again.

The thing about it is that while for many the Republic may appear a lost cause, dead and buried given the way things have sadly turned out, while we have men like Dessie Morgan or Patsy Quinn or Dan McAnallen or the many other young men of those times to light our way, to inspire us and force us to confront the political reality that we still live under occupation and that we still have work to do, well then the republic will never die and remains a living, breathing thing. Because it lives in them, it lives in us and to it we must and will return.

Remembering Dessie

Guest writer Sean Bresnahan narrating the events of a weekend commemoration in honour of IRA volunteer Dessie Morgan.


Silver gems that pierce the dark,
Heavenly virgins in disguise;
That stir the heart with love and flame
And light great flames in all men's eyes


On Sunday past I attended a 40th anniversary commemoration in memory of Brackaville man Dessie Morgan, a 19 year-old lad with a world of prospects and possibilities at his feet who sacrificed all of that to join the Republican Movement, that he might help protect and defend his community from the excesses of the illegal British occupation of our country. He died in defence of the people and the Irish Republic forty years ago today and it is only right and fitting that we remember and pay tribute to men like Dessie on occasions such as Sunday in Coalisland Graveyard and indeed today on the date of his anniversary.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.


To my mind it's something worth considering that behind every hero and martyr is a family and a human story, because although they died as heroes they were still but ordinary lads to those who called them brother, father, son - ordinary men who became extraordinary, shaped by the savageness of Britain's oppression and repression in the occupied six-counties. Their pain is still very much there so to stand today in solidarity with his mother and sister, who lost their only son and brother because of the political situation here, was a privilege and a sad reminder of the suffering our people have been forced to endure.

Dessie Morgan, like so many other young men in Tyrone of his generation, was compelled by the tragedy unfolding around him as war broke out in the six-counties to join the ranks of Oglaigh na hEireann. Conditioned by the riots that swept through Coalisland in the July of 1970 after the RUC sealed the town to facilitate a triumphalist Orange march he became an active member of the East Tyrone Brigade, despite being practically still a boy. When I heard his story today it brought back memories of another young Volunteer who's grave we visited earlier this summer, also 40 years dead having been killed on Active Service with his comrade Dan McAnallen during an attack on Pomeroy RUC Barracks in August 1973. Young Patsy Quinn was incredibly just sixteen years old when he lost his life trying to free his native land, having already by that stage, like so many other young men round these parts, proved himself a mature and committed Volunteer with no fear of those who sought to bring terror to our streets and towns.

The story of Tyrone's fight in the most recent phase of our struggle is sadly littered with examples of such young men, often still teenagers, who died because of a war not of their making and a singular determination to engage and to respond to those who brought that war to their communities and to pursue the struggle for Irish freedom that went hand-in-hand with that determination.

The great tragedy in all this is that such young men were denied their right to live out their lives like the rest of us. Dessie Morgan was no different than others of his generation; he enjoyed the craic, going to dances and the cinema with his peers. He was a qualified tradesman with a full-time job and he was a keen sportsman - especially when it came to lining out for his local club Brackaville Owen Roes, who he represented with a pride typical of those living in the shade of their more illustrious parish-rivals, Clonoe and Coalisland. Indeed they say a better left-foot could not be found in the whole of the county never mind the ranks of Junior football, where he applied his trade as a dependable corner-back who possessed the same grit and determination still associated today with the good people of that area. Dessie could have went on to do anything he wanted; to build a home, raise a family, pass on his skills on the football field to the generations that were to follow him onto the sod of O'Brien Park, the kind of things we all take for granted. But the terrorist war the British state prosecuted against our people meant it could never be so.

This to me is the greatest tragedy of what happened here, that such young lads were denied such basic, run-of-the-mill norms and that their families suffered the terrible loss of a loved one gone long, long before their time. It should never have happened.

It was great to see people turn out in their droves to remember Dessie and to stand shoulder to shoulder with his loved one's, to let them know that he is more than a name on the Roll of Honour to us, that he is our comrade, our friend, our inspiration, our guiding light. Well done to those in the local Eamonn Ceannt Society and the wider Republican Movement for organising such a dignified and fitting event yet again.

The thing about it is that while for many the Republic may appear a lost cause, dead and buried given the way things have sadly turned out, while we have men like Dessie Morgan or Patsy Quinn or Dan McAnallen or the many other young men of those times to light our way, to inspire us and force us to confront the political reality that we still live under occupation and that we still have work to do, well then the republic will never die and remains a living, breathing thing. Because it lives in them, it lives in us and to it we must and will return.

20 comments:

  1. Far to many young lads lost their lives in what they believed was the fight to rid Ireland off the British and obtain a United Ireland.

    Even when Adams and Co were having the secret talks , the young were still dying.

    But that takes nothing away from those young and dedicated volunteers who paid the ultimate price.

    Its always the families who continue to suffer , that is never ending.

    We should never forget their sacrifices.

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  2. 'What thousands must die so that Caesar may become great.'

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  3. Sean,
    The most important thing is the fact that we remember them .
    Not to detract from the very poignant tribute of this piece but I have been told many times and again quite recently that Sinn Fein are working behind the scene to put a stop to such commemorations.

    So many young men and women lost and sacrificed so much here, that it remains important they are remembered.

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  4. Nuala,

    as you once said in 3 words - all about him.

    That is what it has been reduced to. The people who died to make Caesar great don't as much as register. When their were votes in them they were commemorated; now that the vote is being sought from people who would have had something more resembling disdain than respect for the IRA, the dead can be ditched. Watch out soon for obliteration ceremonies. 'We gather here to forget all those who died to get us here'

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  5. Mackers,
    He probably told Father Reid that God had sent him.
    I'm sure Fr Reid wondered sometimes, why the chosen one was surrounded by the tax collectors and those who robbed the poor to feed the rich.

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  6. Fionnuala:

    Sinn Fein are working behind the scene to put a stop to such commemorations

    That will never happen.

    SF have shown their true British Colours for a long long time.

    To attempt to stop any commemorations would be a massive nail in their coffin.
    The 1916 societies and more up to date Republicans would not stand for it.

    SF would be committing political suicide.

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  7. If Sinn Fein choose to do away with commemorating our patriot dead I don't think it will really matter Nuala, certainly not round these parts. Others have taken on that mantle long ago and the majority of republicans have disassociated from the Sinn Fein line already anyway, something borne out in the difference between Easter Sunday and Easter Monday in the year just past - separated by 24 hours in real time but light years in terms of republican support. Sinn Fein attempt to disguise their problems here by pointing to their electoral prowess as proof of continuing credibility with republicans in Tyrone but the fact of the matter is those republicans we relied upon for years have either walked away or are walking away. The party has been reduced to an electoral vehicle so the old link with the armed struggle as you say Mackers has probably outlived its usefulness judging by O'Dowd's reaction to Castlederg and his statement on BBC radio that "commemorations would have to be looked at again". But with or without them it's already been shown time and time again that the republican people of Tyrone will remember their patriot dead without issue or qualm. What they choose to do is their own thing, the republican movement in Tyrone will continue on with what it has been doing regardless

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  8. itsjustmacker,
    Marie Moore told me many years ago Sinn Fein were winding down on the commemorations and they have!
    Clonard Martyrs Committee held a big annual commemoration in the Felons for years, now they have dwindled it down to the local Hibs.
    The crowd gets smaller yearly as people can pick up on the (going through the motions without any sincerity vibes)
    It won't be suicide for Sinn Fein as Mackers rightly said, they would prefer to forget.

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  9. Sean Bres,

    Commemorations will have to be looked at he said! They will call you a traitor if you dare turn up at one in a year or two. You will be told to remember the dead in your heart and not to be showing off by going to graveyards.

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  10. The Eamonn Ceannt Society Coalisland-Clonoe are organising a wreath-laying ceremony for the 30th anniversary of Colm McGirr and Brian Campbell this Sunday at 2pm back in St. Mary's and St. Joseph's Graveyard Coalisland - everyone welcome to come along and support their families

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  11. I have the book Tyrones struggle for Irish freedom. It is just page after page of names of those killed. Vast majority were just young men and women.

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  12. Fair play Mattieu, genuinely surprised to hear you say that. It's a fairly comprehensive overview of the goings on down our way over the course of the Troubles. I think for anyone who disputes that a war took place here, as opposed to a terrorist campaign as some would have it portrayed, they need only read that book. The intensity of Brigade activities in both East and West Tyrone speak for themselves, particularly in terms of the modus operandi in terms of targeting. Mackers I recall you telling me at the time I done that interview with ye back in 2000 or so that the armed struggle was effectively over after Barry O'Donnell and the boys were killed in Clonoe Churchyard, never quite understood exactly what you meant but I think yeah you were right in the sense the decks had been cleared for Adams to shepherd in the ceasefires

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  13. Sean Bres,

    when the boys died that time I wrote a poem in the jail. I ended it with the words

    Tyrone came out to bury the boys
    and asked if they died just to make noise

    Morrison was angry at it.

    The point I was making in the poem was that this was an operation that in my view should never have gone ahead. Older wiser heads had a duty of care to the young vols to protect them from their own enthusiasm. They let it go ahead knowing what the likely outcome would be given the lay of the land and the type of anchored logistics required to carry that type of op out. Had the Brits been totally successful it would have been as bad if not worse than Loughall. Myself and Ed believe Tyrone was targeted specifically because Adams told the Brits he wanted to sue for peace but there were elements he had to persuade in Tyrone and South Armagh. The Brits did the persuading for him. And Tyrone paid the price because as Ian Phoenix said South Armagh was uncharacteristically resilient to penetration. What he meant was that it didn't allow Belfast to know what it was doing. I visted those graves as soon as I got out and visited the spot at Loughall where the boys died and I felt it sorely.

    And for what - so that they could be forgotten and their killers commemorated?

    Shame, shame, shame.

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  14. Just seeing your comment, bout to hit the scratcher. What you said there is chilling to the bone and there's no doubt when we look at the context of the assassination campaign in Tyrone that you have a point. The phrase I recall you using was "moulding a leadership", how sad for the families of those young lads if that were the case. The weakness of the republican leadership you identify no doubt played a massive part in the Brit decision to deploy the SAS and loyalist counter-gangs in a sustained campaign against the republican movement in this part of the North, that it was to facilitate the sell-out we've eventually been forced to acknowledge was actively being planned out is just a travesty, can't think of another way to describe it. Those deaths were horrifying, God help their families because this should never have had to happen in our country

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  15. Sean Bres,

    each time signs of a possible emerging leadership showed up the Brits moved. When the boys from South Derry were named as the most wanted men in Ireland the Dark said to me they were the future leadership of the IRA and the Brits badly wanted to take them out. Brendan always thought in terms of handing the reins over to a leadership that emerged from the streets and certainly not from the business sector. He never thought of permanent leaderships.

    The Brits sent in Special Forces to take out Frank and wind it up. Frank took out them but was captured.

    The boys at Loughall were the same. The concentration on Tyrone through loyalist proxy or direct Brit intervention was designed to ensure no alternative could took root there. The killings in February 92 was to take out what looked to the Brits like an emerging charismatic leadership. After that, where was there any sign of serious independent thought? South Armagh was tired and had other fish to fry. Derry had long since rolled over. Belfast was packed with yes men. Those that were not were shunted to the side and their underlings promoted because they applied the Judas kiss. The people who said 'take me to Gerry Adams' door and I will shoot him if he decommissions' took their promotions and oversaw decommissioning.

    So I guess that is what I had in mind when talking to you all those years ago.

    What chance did a successful rebellion have with all that? None. This is why I am so opposed to it. There are only ever two outcomes. The Brits will defeat you or the leadership will cheat you. And what the Brits did with the peace process was to have the leadership cheat. When I put it to that senior British official that 'you shafted republicans' and he responded 'republicans shafted republicans' the one thing was crystal clear - we were shafted.

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  16. Ivor Bell was dismissed from the IRA in 1984 because he opposed Gerry Adams idea about spending more money on SF than the war. While giving interviews* to Sandy Boyer in Connolly House in 1984 saying "there is no chance of republicans entering Stormount, Leinster House or Westminster". Two years later Martin McGuinness was saying something similar..

    * Found on the 'feed' dated 9th Nov. starts around 20mins 20sec's.

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  17. Yeah it's plain as day we were shafted. If nothing else the least we can say about the Agreement is that it was poorly negotiated from a republican perspective - nowhere more evident than in the conviction of Seamus Kearney in a Diplock court 15 and a half years after that Agreement. The idea of trusting the sacrosanct leadership should never be entertained again if we ever manage to rebuild things - which would be a massive feat in itself given how far back we've been knocked. The latest line from Sinn Fein and their supporters is that we got as much as our political strength could allow for but to my mind that's bullshit. We got a lot less than might have been the case if we'd only played hardball and involved the grassroots in what was going on. If this had been done greater concessions would have to have been made to bring them along but instead they were simply deceived

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  18. Sean/Anthony,

    On Slugger a poster reckons what happened in Tyrone was an either or..

    The amount of collusion between the IRA and the British intelligence is surely now beyond doubt. Whether it was the British running agents within the senior membership of the IRA/Sinn Fein or senior members of the IRA/Sinn Fein using the SAS to terminate politically inconvenient ASUs in East Tyrone we can now say with a degree of certainty

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  19. It's more likely to have been the former in fairness. Tyrone's biggest crime was loyalty, because the Volunteers accepted their place in the Army and thus the need to respect the command structures that existed. Perhaps with hindsight it would have been better to have taken the same approach as South Armagh, a line of thought supposedly being pursued by Jim Lynagh and a few others. Maybe then young lads like those we mentioned might have stood a better chance of coming away with their lives, who knows. What's clear is that information was getting through to the Brits about Tyrone that they weren't getting on Armagh - that's a clear line to suggest the reason being East Tyrone was under the auspices of Northern Command and the central leadership to a much greater extent than South Armagh

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  20. Watch out soon for obliteration ceremonies. 'We gather here to forget all those who died to get us here'

    That's already happening long ago, you only need to listen to the speeches at any commemorative events they organise. Someone posted a link of Bobby Storey speaking in Ladybrook and he spoke about Gerry Adams more than of the Volunteers they were there to remember

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