Thomas McDowell — first on the UVF’s roll of honour

Published in 1913, 20th-century / Contemporary History, Issue 4 (Jul/Aug 2009), Revolutionary Period 1912-23, Volume 17

Cathleen’s Falls hydro-electric station, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal—the intended target for UVF man Thomas McDowell’s bungled attack in October 1969. (ESB Archives)

Cathleen’s Falls hydro-electric station, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal—the intended target for UVF man Thomas McDowell’s bungled attack in October 1969. (ESB Archives)

The UVF man incinerated in the bungled Ballyshannon attack in October 1969,Thomas McDowell, a quarry worker and father of ten, is stillcommemorated on UVF rolls of honour. As recently as 2006 one of itspublications, The Fallen and the Brave, puts his name at the head of alist of its volunteers killed in the Troubles. It describes him as aGod-fearing and popular man driven to act as he did in the midst of ‘anever deteriorating political and sectarian situation in the late 1960screated and maintained by the Irish Republican movement’.

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