D Company honours its fallen
As many as 2,000 people gathered in bright sunshine in West Belfast on Sunday 24 June for the unveiling of one of the finest monuments ever erected to the republican dead.
The monument, in the Garden of Remembrance on the lower Falls Road, was officially opened after a parade through the area. Hundreds of republicans, veterans of the war and of British prisons, took part. The parade was led by a colour party, followed by many `old hands' from D Company, or the `Dogs' as they were known. They followed behind their own colours and their mascot, an Irish Wolfhound. As well as the many hundreds who took part in the parade hundreds of other people lined the route.
The brainchild of the Falls Cultural Society, the magnificent monument was a year in the planning and the efforts of Dominic O'Neill and Paddy Monaghan, among others to get the memorial finished on time was a feat in itself.
In asking Bridget Hannon and Willie John McCorry to carry out the official opening, the Falls Cultural Society recognised the work and commitment of two veteran republicans whose efforts are well known.
As guest speaker, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams commended the families of the dead Volunteers of D `Company for their ``great sacrifice to the republican struggle''.
In a statement from the Belfast Brigade, Oglaigh na hÉireann, read during Sunday's proceedings, the IRA commended the present leadership of the republican movement as being among the most astute, determined, dedicated and most revolutionary in deed and action that our struggle has ever seen.
The statement also praised the efforts of Sinn Féin on its successes in this month's elections, saying ``the republican argument is strong and continues to grow''.
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