Orange Hall broken into and Memorial smashed
A marble tablet erected in south Armagh Orange Hall in memory of a murdered UDR officer has been smashed during a republican break-in.
Captain Charles Henning of 2 UDR was murdered by republican terrorists at Newry cattle mart in 1978. When he was leaving a livestock mart on 2nd October 1978.
He seen the gunmen coming for him and jumped out of his lorry and tried to escaped back into the market. The terrorists ran after him and shot him in the head, shoulder and back. Over two thousand attended his funeral at Jerrettspass Presbyterian Church where he was a treasurer and elder. Among those present were representatives of the Orange Order and Royal Black Preceptory.
He had served 16 years in the B specials.
The Unionist MP at the time was the late Harold McCusker and he accused the IRA of waging a campaign to drive Protestants out of the town of Newry. He declared-
" The Roman Catholic population of Newry would do well to ponder whether their town is in any way enriched when IRA sectarian murder gangs destroy the dwindling number of Protestants who still live and work there".
At a court hearing the court was told how the IRA had planned to kidnap Charles Henning, obtain information and then kill him. As they had done to many other innocent Protestants as they inflicted terrible acts of mutilation on the victims before and after death. Leaving their bodies packed with semtex so they could lure more members of the security forces and murder them also like the poor victims left on the roadside.
During the break-in the republicans who committed the dreadful deed of desecrating the marble memorial also damaged the Orange lodge's banner as well as breaking up the toilets in a new extension being carried out to the hall.
A relative of the murdered soldier said he was "absolutely disgusted".
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Orange Halls attacked over the Province
