Twelfth of July: Amid celebrations Orange brethren remember infamous IRA Kingsmill massacre in rural south Armagh

The four lodges of Bessbrook District LOL No 11 held their annual memorial service at the memorial located close to the site where the 10 Protestant men were selected to stand against a van before being shot dead on January 5, 1976.

Eight of the workmen were from Bessbrook village, including Joseph Lemmon (46) and James McWhirter (58), who belonged to Bessbrook Purple Star LOL No 959.

Those present were joined by Presbyterian minister the Rev Nigel Reid, minister of the nearby Mountnorris and Tullyallen churches.

The killings were not claimed by the IRA, but by the “South Armagh Republican Reaction Force” – though it is widely acknowledged that the IRA were behind it.

The other dead were John Bryans (46), Robert Chambers (19), Reginald Chapman (25), Walter Chapman (23), Robert Freeburn (50), John McConville (20), Robert Walker (46) and Kenneth Worton (24).

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