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Tullyvallen Orange Hall Massacre
Part of The Troubles
The front of Tullyvallen Orange Hall before the massacre
Location	Tullyvallen, Newtownhamilton, Ireland
Coordinates	54°36′14″N 5°56′53″W / 54.604008°N 5.948119°W / 54.604008; -5.948119
Date	1 September 1975 22:00 GMT
Attack type	shooting, bombing
Weapons	AR-15 Rifles Hand guns Time bomb
Deaths	5 civilians killed
Injured	7 civilians injured
Perpetrator	claimbed by Republican Action Force

On the 1 September 1975 Irish Republicans from the Provisional IRA using the covername South Armagh Republican Action Force carried out a gun attack on an Orange Order building (known as a Orange Hall) in Tullyvallen, Newtownhamilton, County Armagh close to the Irish border. Five people were killed in the attack and seven were injured.

The Republican Action Force

The South Armagh Republican Action Force (SARAF) or just simply the Republican Action Force (RAF). Was a loose alliance of Republican paramilitaries who were against the 1975 IRA truce with the British government. They were a response to the Protestant Action Force (PAF) who were a cover name for the UVF when carrying out sectarian attacks on Catholics. Most the members of this rogue group were IRA volunteers especially the ones in border counties like South Armagh, Tyrone and Fermanagh. There was also members of Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) involved in the group.

Previous attacks

The attack preceded a string of tit-for-tat sectarian killings carried out by Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries as far back as February 1975 on the same day as truce between the IRA and the British Army was suppose to start. In August, the month before the Tullyvallen attack, Loyalists and Republicans carried out a string of sectarian attacks, leading to over 20 deaths and 100+ plus injuries.

• On 1 August two Catholic civilians were shot dead in their minibus by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
• On 10 August a gun battle broke out between the British Army and the IRA. Two children were killed in the crossfire.
• Three days later, the IRA carried out a gun and bomb attack on a pub on the Shankill Road killing five people and injuring 40 others.
• On 22 August three Catholics were killed in a bomb attack on a bar in Armagh. Another Catholic died of injuries caused by Loyalists a few days earlier.
• Two days later two Catholic civilians were abducted and murdered by the UVF in Armagh.
• On 27 August the IRA exploded a bomb at the Caterham Arms pub in Surrey, England injuring over 30 people.
• One day later, an IRA bomb exploded in Oxford Street, London.
• On 29 August a British Army bomb-disposal officer was killed tryying to defuse an IRA bomb in Kensington Church Street, London. On the same day a volunteer of the IRA's youth wing was shot dead by Loyalists in Belfast
• On 30 August the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) bombed a pub in Belfast killing two Catholic civilians. On the same day the IRA shot dead an off-duty member of the security forces.
• Also on 30 August, Stephen Geddis (10) died two days after being shot in the head by a plastic bullet by the British Army. security forces during the troubles lke the killings of Julie Living Stone.

Orange Hall Attack

On 1 September 1975, a few days after two Catholic civilians were had been abducted and then shot dead by the UVF a short distance way in , the South Armagh Republican Action Force claimed responsibility for a gun attack on Tullyvallen Orange Hall near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh. The attack happened at about 10pm, when a group of Orangemen were holding a meeting inside. A number of the Orangemen were members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army and were armed. Two gunmen entered the hall and using deadly AR-15 rifles sprayed it with bullets while another stood outside and shot through a window. One of the Orangemen was an off-duty Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer. He returned fire with a pistol and believed he hit one of the attackers. Five of the Orangemen, all civilians, were killed while seven others were wounded. The attackers planted a 2 pounds (0.91 kg) bomb outside the hall but it failed to detonate. A caller to the BBC claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was in retaliation for "the assassinations of fellow Catholics in Belfast". Shortly after, the Orange Order called for the creation of a legal militia (or "Home Guard") to deal with republican paramilitaries.

Aftermath

On the same day as the Tullyvallen attack, there were four other attacks that day around the six counties that lead to another five deaths. First the UVF shot dead two UDA members in a Loyalist feud. Next SDLP member Denis Mullen (36) was shot dead at his home by Loyalists. Then two Protestant civilians were killed, Leslie Shepherd (24) was killed by the UVF in a case of mistaken identity, Thomas Taylor (50) was then shot at his workplace by Republican gunmen.

Two days later on the 3 September Loyalists killed two Catholic civilians, a father and daughter in their house. On 5 September the IRA exploded a massive bomb at the Hilton hotel in London killing two people and injuring 63.

This cycle of killings would continue well into 1976.

Some of the most serious attacks of the rest of 1975:

• On 2 October 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a series of UVF bomb and gun attacks across Northern Ireland.
• On 23 October Two Catholic civilians were killed in their home by UVF gunmen. Later that day a passerby was killed by an IRA bomb meant for Hugh Frazer when it exploded prematurely.
• 18 November Two civilians were killed and 23 injured when the IRA bombed Walton's restaurant in London's West End.
• 22 November - During the Drummuckavall Ambush the IRA's South Armagh Brigade ambushed a British Army OP , three soldiers were killed in the ambush and one injured. One of the AR-15 rifles used in the attack was found to have been used by the South Armagh Republican Action Force in an attack on the Tullyvallen Orange Hall that killed five civilians.
• On 25 November four people were killed in three separate attacks, two RUC officers and an Ulster Defence Regiment soldier were killed by the IRA. A Catholic civilian Francis Crossan (34) was found dead near the Shankill Road with his throat slit. A rouge UVF gang called the Shankill Butchers were behind the attack.
• 29 November the UDA bombed Dublin airport killing one man and injuring 15 others.
• On 19 December the UVF killed five people in two different attacks. First, they attacked a pub in Dundalk killing two people and injured over 20. The second attack happened in Crossmaglen in a pub called the Silverbridge Inn killing three more people and injuring six in a bomb attack.

• On 31 December three Protestant civilians were killed in a bomb attack on a pub in Gilford, County Down. The attack was carried out by the INLA who a the time called themselves the "People's Liberation Army".

See Also

• Kingsmill massacre
• Darkley killings
• Donegall Arms shooting

Sources

• CAIN project
• Bowyer Bell, J (2013) The IRA, 1968-2000: An Analysis of a Secret Army. Routledge. ISBN 1136333088

References2013

1. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
2. http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/tullyvallen-massacre-40-years-on-the-memories-never-really-go-away-1-6930557
3. UVF - The End Game by Henry McDonald & Jim Cusack
4. https://books.google.ie/books?id=P6mPDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
5. Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
6. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
7. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
8. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
9. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
10. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
11. Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
12. Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
13. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
14. Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
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18. ^ McKittrick, David. Lost Lives. Mainstream Publishing, 1999. p.572
19. McKay, Susan. Northern Protestants: An unsettled people. Blackstaff Press, 2005. p.190
20. Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
21. English, Richard. Armed Struggle: The history of the IRA. Pan McMillen, 2004. p. 171
22. http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/1975-murder-of-sdlp-man-still-fresh-in-my-mind-daughter-1-6932853
23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25545539?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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28. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=2&month=10&year=1975
29. Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA (2002); (PB) ISBN 0-393-32502-4; (HB) ISBN 0-7139-9665-X, p. 320
30. Richard English, Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (2005); ISBN 978-0-19-517753-4, p. 171
31. Simon Dunstan: For England and St George – A History of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, p. 109
32. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=25&month=11&year=1975
33. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch79.htm#20279
34. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=29&month=11&year=1975
35. http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=19&month=12&year=1975
36. http://www.rense.com/general74/edge.htm
37. http://www.michael.donegan.care4free.net/dundalk_bombing/

• Military actions and engagements during the Troubles (Northern Ireland)
• 1975 in Northern Ireland
• The Troubles (Northern Ireland)
• The Troubles in County Armagh
• Attacks on churches
• Massacres in places of worship
• Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland