The Tullyvallen attack was the largest loss of life suffered by the order in a single attack.
An Orangeman has told of the poignancy of attending meetings sitting in the same chair at the same table where his grandfather was murdered 50 years ago.
Alasdair Cooke said it is important people do not forget the Tullyvallen massacre, where IRA men shot dead five Orange Order members close to Newtownhamilton in south Armagh on the night of September 1, 1975.
Gunmen burst into the isolated Tullyvallen Orange Hall during a meeting of Tullyvallen Guiding Star Temperance LOL 630 and opened fire, murdering John Johnston, 80, 73-year-old James McKee and his son Ronnie McKee, 40, Nevin McConnell, 48, and William Herron, 68, who died two days later.
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Six other men were injured in the attack. A 2lb bomb was also left outside the hall. It was defused by the Army.
A memorial plaque in the hall remembers the five victims as well as fellow lodge members William Meaklim, who was murdered two weeks before the attack, and Joseph McCullough, who was killed five months after.
The Orange Order marks Orange Victims’ Day on September 1 when it remembers all 344 members who were killed during the Troubles.
The Tullyvallen attack was the largest loss of life suffered by the order in a single attack.
Mr Cooke is the Worshipful Master of LOL 630 at Tullyvallen. His grandfather James McKee occupied the same role when he was killed in the 1975 attack.
Mr Cooke joined with survivors of the attack, Berry Reaney and John Henry, at the Orange Hall to remember those who lost their lives.
He said: “We mark the 50th anniversary of the attack on this hall by terrorists, when five members of this lodge were murdered.
“Our memorial plaque has seven names on it, Brother William Meaklim was murdered just two weeks prior to the 1st September and Brother Joseph McCullough was murdered about five months later just a stone’s throw from the hall.”
Mr Cooke recalled the night the massacre took place.
He said: “It was a totally routine lodge meeting, as happened every month, that night the lodge had opened and was conducting its business as usual when the back door was kicked in and two gunmen entered and immediately opened fire indiscriminately on the men sitting around the table in the middle of the hall.
“Another gunman fired through a window at the men inside.”
He added: “My grandfather James McKee was Worshipful Master of the lodge at the time and he was murdered sitting in a chair at the top of the table.
“It is the position I now occupy within the lodge as Worshipful Master and it is particularly poignant for me to come to meetings here and sit in the same chair at the same table that he sat in when he was murdered.”
Mr Cooke said a memorial service is held every year.
He said: “This year marks the 50th anniversary. It is important to continue these services because it gives a degree of support to those who were impacted directly by the attack.
“It shows that the community cares, the community supports them, and the truth about their loved ones is being told.”
Kenny Donaldson, the director of the South East Fermanagh Foundation victims’ organisation, said he also has a family connection to the attack.
He said: “My late granny’s first cousin John Johnston was the eldest of the victims.
“John was a retired farmer from Cloghoge area outside Crossmaglen, where my family continue to live to this day.”
Mr Donaldson added: “For years I attended youth club in Tullyvallen Orange Hall with my brothers not fully appreciating the happenings within that hall, being ignorant to the fact that the table which was used to support monitors for computer games was the lodge table which carried significant scorched damage from the bullets which struck it on that fateful night.
“It is accepted that the stability of that table may in part of helped save lives and additional physical injuries for some of the survivors.”
The Orange Order will mark its victims’ day on Monday.
Leaders will attend at act of remembrance for all victims in Loughgall in Co Armagh in the morning and a service of remembrance will take place in Tullyvallen Orange Hall in the evening, with a moment’s silence at 9.30pm – the time of the attack.
On Tuesday, an exhibition entitled Moving Tributes will open in the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall in Londonderry featuring more than 60 banners and Lambeg drums bearing the portraits of murdered members.
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