Joseph (Joe) McCullough who was murdered by Provisional IRA terrorists on 26 th February 1976

Joseph McCullough was a fifty-seven year old farmer and part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment. He was also a member of the Tullyvallen Orange Lodge, and lived on a small farm on the Castleblayney Road, Newtownhamilton.

who was stabbed to death by the Provisional IRA. His body was found a day later near his home.

Joe was staying with neighbours to avoid an attack as it had became clear that the PRA was systematically targeting members of his UDR company. On the day that Joseph was murdered, he had returned to his home in the evening to feed his dog. But an IRA gang were lying in wait to ambush him, and after stabbing him five times, they finished him off by twice cutting his throat. When he didn’t return, his neighbours went to Joseph’s farm and found him in the laneway. Joseph had sustained stab wounds to the head and neck.  The nature of this murder was distinct and horrific it was a close quarters frenzied killing, which gives us some indication of the psychology of the killer. However this was not a random murder Joseph McCullough was the seventh person from Tullyvallen, in seven months, to be murdered by South Armagh PIRA, in their campaign of sectarian terrorism.

Joe was a member of the Orange Order and chaplain of Tullyvallen Orange Lodge. As a member of the Guiding Star Temperance Lodge, a couple of months earlier he’d been out on UDR patrol when the IRA attacked a meeting of the lodge at Tullyvallen, shooting dead five men, none of them in the security forces. Having narrowly missed becoming a victims of the Tullyvallan Massacre Joe would have know the risks of continuing to live and farm in the area. However like many of his friends and colleagues he was determined not to be driven off his land.  Sadly he wasn’t the first of his family to be murdered by the IRA. A cousin, William Meaklin, had some time earlier been abducted from his mobile shop near Crossmaglen, tortured and murdered.

The message was clear to the isolated Protestant community – “YOU will be Next”. However despite the risks and loss of loved ones and comrades these brave men held their ground, donned the uniform of the UDR and continued to defend their community.