1983 escape IRIS
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They played a crucial role... THE GREATEST ESCAPE
T
WO of the IRA Volunteers who played a crucial role in the escape, but were not among the 38 escapees, were Larry Marley and Kevin McCracken.
LARRY MARLEY from Ardoyne in North Belfast had a formidable reputation for planning and executing escapes. First imprisoned in 1972, he twice tried to escape while on remand. Sentenced to 7 years, he made a series of escape plans and attempts from the Cages of Long Kesh, culminating in a 1975 bid when he and other POWs dressed up as British soldiers. Brought with nine others to Newry courthouse to face trial for this attempt, the ten republicans promptly escaped through a window! Larry returned to active service and was not caught again until 1976. This time he was sentenced to ten years for possession of weapons and explosives while on the run, and was sent back to the Cages. After a further escape attempt on 31 March
1978 he was transferred to the H-Blocks. After the hunger strikes and the strategic ending of the ‘no wash’ protest by republicans, Larry once again turned his attention to escapes, as head of the HBlock escape committee. Ironically, the closeness of his release date meant that he did not take part in the operation he had helped to plan – the most spectacular escape of his career. Released in November 1985 and hoping to spend time with the family he had only seen in jail and while on the run during the previous 13 years, Larry was shot dead by loyalists at his Ardoyne home on 2 April 1987. His funeral saw what the British media described as “the biggest display of republican support since the hunger strikes”, as savage baton charges by the RUC on mourners and their attempts to surround the coffin led to the family calling it off on two successive days. Finally, on the third day, the thousands of people across Belfast and beyond who thronged the streets of
• The funeral of Laurence Marley, shot dead by the UVF. The funeral had twice been cancelled because the RUC had prevented the coffin leaving the family home
IRIS
• LARRY MARLEY
• KEVIN McCRACKEN
Ardoyne, and the determination of the Marley family, ensured that Larry was buried with dignity. KEVIN McCRACKEN from Turf Lodge in West Belfast was one of those who, with their own release dates approaching, undertook enormous personal risks as part of the H7 rearguard. Joining the Fianna in 1972 and the IRA three years later, Kevin was active until his arrest in 1977. Sentenced to 13 years, he played an uncompromising part in the blanket and ‘no wash’ protests. Kevin resumed active service on his release in November 1985. On the evening of 14 March 1988, as hundreds of people gathered in West Belfast to wait on the returning bodies of Mairéad Farrell, Dan McCann and Seán Savage from Gibraltar, Kevin McCracken was shot dead less than half a mile away as he prepared to engage British soldiers who had swamped the Turf Lodge district around the Savage family home. 55