“This is a famous photo for those with a knowledge of the history of the Irish Republican Army. It shows two of the key leaders of the IRA from the 1940’s, both Belfast men, Charlie McGlade (left) and Sean McCaughey (right). Soon after this pic was taken, McGlade was shot by Special Branch and interned in the Curragh Camp. He survived and went on to help found the Provisional IRA in the 1960’s, serving on the Ard Comhairle of Sinn Fein until his death in Drimnagh in 1982. McCaughey rose to the position of Lieutenant General of the IRA but was also captured in 1941. After five years of barbaric treatment in Portlaoise Prison, he embarked on a hunger and thirst strike, lasting just 23 days before he died on May 11, 1946. He is buried in Milltown Cemetery in Belfast. In 2006, Belfast Republicans erected this mural on Ardoyne’s Brompton Park to mark the 60th anniversary of his death and used the picture taken by Arthur Fields to create the mural.”
(1941)
Submitted by m f