1 September 1975: 1.William Ronald McKee, 70-year-old Protestant civilian, married with 5 children and a farmer. 2. James McKee, 40-year-old Protestant civilian, a farmer. 3. Nevin McConnell, 40-year-old Protestant civilian, a livestock market manager. 4. John Johnston, 80-year-old Protestant civilian, a retired farmer. 3 September 1975: William George Herron, 67-year-old Protestant civilian. William and James McKee were father and son and were from Castleblaney Road, Newtonwhamilton. IRA gunmen attacked the Tullvallen Orange hall on the Altnamackin Road killing the 4 victims. Mr. William Herron was the 5th victim and died 2 days later. Half a dozen other people were also injured in the attack. All the victims and injured were members of the Guiding Star Temperance Orange Lodge. The attack occurred at 10:00PM when a routine lodge meeting was taking place. Two masked gunmen with machine guns burst open the door and sprayed the hall with bullets. Other gunmen who were standing outside fired shots through the windows. An off duty member of the security forces was attending the meeting at the time. He drew his personal-issue pistol and fired shots believing he hit 1 of the gunmen. As ambulance crews removed the dead and injured, they discovered a suspicious package outside the hall. An army expert discovered the package was metal container with a 2lb bomb inside. A 22-year-old man from Cullhanna was convicted in November 1977 for the Tullvallen killings. The court was told that he had driven the killers to and from the scene. Lest we forget!
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 11:13:32 +0000
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