Hundreds mark 40th anniversary of Volunteers Kelly and Stone

REPUBLICANS from across Belfast turned out in huge numbers on Sunday 25 January to mark the 40th anniversary of the death on active service of Volunteers John 'Bap' Kelly and John Stone.

The crowds gathered at Clonard Street in the Lower Falls area of west Belfast before parading through the Falls area, making their way to the Falls Garden of Remembrance.

• Volunteers John 'Bap' Kelly and John Stone

Led by a republican colour party, the crowd (accompanied by a number of flute bands, including one from south Derry) gathered at the memorial garden for a wreath-laying ceremony.

Veteran republican Joe McKee, a friend and comrade of the fallen Volunteers, spoke of his admiration for the men who died when a bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely on 21 January 1975.

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