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Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade

The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is believed to have drawn its membership from across the eastern side of County Tyrone as well as north County Monaghan and south County Londonderry.

List of notable actions from 1971 until Loughgall
Dates highlighted in bold indicate three or more fatalities.
 * 14 September 1971: a British soldier (John Rudman, aged 21) was shot dead while on mobile patrol, Edendork, near Coalisland, County Tyrone. He was the first British soldier killed by the East Tyrone Brigade
 * 14 March 1972: A two-man IRA unit armed with sub-machine guns ambushed a joint British Army/RUC patrol on Brackaville Road outside Coalisland. Over 50 shots were fired by the unit. The RUC officer, William Logan (aged 23), who was driving the police patrol vehicle was mortally wounded and died the following day, he was the first RUC officer killed by the brigade.
 * 10 September 1972: Douglas Richmond (21), Duncan McPhee (21) and William McIntyre (23), all members of the British Army, were killed in an IRA land mine attack on their armoured personnel carrier, at Sanaghanroe, near Dungannon.
 * 16 August 1973: two IRA volunteers, Daniel McAnallen (aged 27) and Patrick Quinn (aged 18), were killed when a mortar prematurely exploded during an attack on Pomeroy British Army/RUC base.
 * 15 March 1974: Patrick McDonald (21) and Kevin Murray (27), both Catholic members of the IRA, were killed in the premature explosion of a land mine at Aughnacloy Road, Dungannon.
 * 2 May 1974: Up to 40 members from the IRA's East Tyrone Brigade attacked the isolated 6 UDR Deanery base in Clogher, County Tyrone with machine gun and RPG fire resulting in the death of Private Eva Martin, a UDR Greenfinch, the first female UDR soldier to be killed by enemy action. See: Attack on UDR Clogher barracks
 * 13 May 1974: Eugene Martin (18) and Sean McKearney (19), both Catholic members of the IRA, were killed in a premature explosion, while planting a bomb at a petrol filling station at Donnydeade.
 * 22 September 1974: A helicopter came under fire while flying along the Tyrone-Monaghan border and was forced to land in a field. An IRA statement claimed the 3rd Battalion of the East Tyrone Brigade was responsible.
 * 7 November 1974: Two British soldiers, Vernon Rose (aged 30) and Charles Simpson (aged 35) were killed by an IRA booby trap bomb at an electricity sub station at Aghalarg, near Stewartstown, County Tyrone.
 * 25 November 1975: two RUC officers, Samuel Clarke (aged 35) and Patrick Maxwell (aged 36), were killed when their mobile patrol was caught in an IRA sniper ambush in Clonavaddy, near Ballygawley.
 * 7 February 1976: Two Protestant teenagers, Rachel and Robert McLernon (aged 18 and 16, respectively), were killed by an IRA booby-trap bomb, intended for members of the security forces, which had been hidden in an abandoned crashed car, Tyresson Road, Cookstown.
 * 29 April 1976 - Edmund Stewart (31), Protestant off duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment, and Stanley Arthurs (43), a Protestant civilian, were shot dead by the IRA at Arthurs’ farm at Dunamony.
 * 2 June 1977: Three members of a RUC mobile patrol were shot dead by East Tyrone Brigade snipers near Ardboe.
 * 3 December 1977: RUC car ambushed by IRA gunmen firing automatic weapons at Clover Hill Bridge on Benburb Road near Moy, County Tyrone. Firefight ensued and the assailants fled across fields.
 * 26 February 1978: IRA Volunteer Paul Duffy was killed by the SAS in Coagh.
 * 16 December 1979: William Beck (23), Keith Richards (22), Simon Evans (19) and Allan Ayrton (21), all members of the British Army, were killed in an IRA land mine attack on their mobile patrol at Ballygawley Road near Dungannon
 * 21 January 1981: Sir Norman Stronge (86), Ulster Unionist Party member, and former Speaker at Stormont, and his son, James Stronge (48), an off-duty member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary reserve, both aristocratic Protestants, were shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army at their mansion, Tynan Abbey, Tynan. A group of men in military style uniform forced their way into the abbey, a mansion in its own large grounds near the Border, sought out the father and son, and shot them. They then placed bombs and incendiary devices and set the mansion alight. It was destroyed by the fire. Sir Norman Stronge, one of the oldest people killed during The Troubles, had been Stormont MP for Mid-Armagh from 1938 to 1969, and Speaker of the House from 1945 until his retirement. James Stronge had taken over the Mid-Armagh seat in 1969 and held it until 1972. He had been a Unionist member of the NI Assembly from 1973 to 1974. Both father and son were members of Derryhaw Boyne Defenders Orange Lodge. The IRA claimed the Stronges had been targeted as "symbols of hated unionism" and "as a direct reprisal for a whole series of loyalist assassinations and murder attacks".
 * 7 September 1981: two RUC officers (Mark Evans and Stuart Montgomery) were killed when their patrol vehicle struck an IRA landmine at Sessadonaghy, near Cappagh, County Tyrone.
 * 13 July 1983: four UDR soldiers (Ronald Alexander, Thomas Harron, Oswell Neely, and John Roxborough) were killed in a land mine attack while on mobile patrol, near Ballygawley. See: Ballygawley land mine attack
 * 12 November 1983: a RUC officer (Paul Clarke) was killed and several others were injured in an IRA mortar bomb attack on Carrickmore British Army/Royal Ulster Constabulary base.
 * 4 December 1983: Colm McGirr (23) and Brian Campbell (19), both members of the East Tyrone Brigade, were shot dead by an undercover British Army soldier whilst approaching an arms dump in a field near Coalisland.
 * 13 July 1984: IRA Volunteer Willie Price was killed by the SAS while carrying out an incendiary bomb attack on a factory in Ardboe.
 * 7 December 1985: during an attack on the RUC barracks in Ballygawley, the IRA killed two RUC officers (Reserve Constable William Clements and Constable George Gilliland) and destroyed the barracks with a large bomb. IRA volunteers had been lying in wait outside the barracks and, as the officers left, two gunmen stepped out of concealed positions and shot both officers in the head from close range. Another IRA unit then directed heavy machine-gun fire at the front of the barracks, which provided cover for a bomb team to plant a 100 lb (45 kg) bomb inside. The bomb exploded ten minutes later, destroying the barracks. Three other RUC officers who were in the building fled through a back door. See: Attack on Ballygawley barracks
 * 11 December 1985: the East Tyrone Brigade claimed responsibility for mortaring Tynan RUC base, County Armagh in which four RUC officers were injured and the base badly damaged.
 * 11 August 1986: The East Tyrone Brigade destroyed the RUC base at The Birches near Portadown with a 200 lb bomb. Three civilians were injured in the attack. See: Attack on RUC Birches barracks
 * 23 November 1986: six British soldiers were wounded after the Brigade launched seven mortars at a British Army barracks in Middletown, County Armagh just along the Armagh/Monaghan border.
 * 26 January 1987: a senior UDR officer was killed outside his home on Coalisland Road, Dungannon. Major George Shaw, a 57-year-old father of two, worked full-time for the MOD and was a part-time soldier. Early in the morning as he prepared to drive to work, two masked IRA gunmen who had been hiding behind trees walked over and shot him three times in the head, mortally wounding him. Almost immediately another part-time soldier chanced upon the scene and opened fire on the fleeing gunmen who managed to escape by forcing a passing car to stop and raced off. Major Shaw died at the scene.
 * 25 April 1987: an off duty British soldier (William Graham) was shot dead by the IRA at his family's farm, off Gortscraheen Road, near Pomeroy. This was the last action by the Brigade before Loughgall.

Lynagh's strategy
In the 1980s, the IRA in East Tyrone and other areas close to the border, such as South Armagh, were following a Maoist military theory devised for Ireland by Jim Lynagh, a high-profile member of the IRA in East Tyrone (but a native of County Monaghan). The theory involved creating "no-go zones" that the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not control and gradually expanding them. Lynagh's strategy was to start off with one area which the British military did not control, preferably a republican stronghold such as east Tyrone. The South Armagh area was considered to be a liberated zone already, since British troops and the RUC could not use the roads there for fear of roadside bombs and long-range harassing fire. Thus it was from there that the IRA East Tyrone Brigade attacks were launched, with most of them occurring in east Tyrone in areas close to south Armagh, which offered good escape routes. The first phase of Lynagh's plan to drive out the British security forces from east Tyrone involved destroying isolated rural police stations and then intimidating or killing any building contractors who were employed to rebuild them. Lynagh's plans met strong criticism from senior brigade member Kevin McKenna, who regarded the strategy as "too impractical, too ambitious, and not sustainable" according to journalist Ed Moloney. The IRA Northern Command, however, approved a scaled-down version of the strategy, aimed at hampering the repair and refurbishment of British security bases. Scottish-born journalist Kevin Toolis has written that from 1985 onward, the brigade led a five-year campaign that left 33 security facilities destroyed and nearly 100 seriously damaged. In July 1983, the East Tyrone Brigade carried out a landmine ambush on an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) mobile patrol near Ballygawley, killing three UDR soldiers (a fourth UDR soldier died later). In 1985 and 1986, the East Tyrone Brigade carried out two attacks on RUC bases in their operational area, described by author Mark Urban as "spectaculars". The first was an assault on Ballygawley base in December 1985. Two RUC officers were shot dead and the base was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by a bomb. The second was an attack on the part-time base at The Birches, County Armagh, in August 1986. The base was raked with gunfire and a JCB digger with a 200 lb (91 kg) bomb in its bucket was driven through the perimeter fence. The bomb detonated, destroying much of the base and damaging nearby buildings. In April 1987 the brigade shot and killed Harold Henry, one of the main building contractors to the security forces in Northern Ireland.

Loughgall ambush
On 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched another attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in The Birches attack. It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200 lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. However, as their attack was underway, the IRA unit was ambushed by a Special Air Service (SAS) unit. The SAS shot dead eight IRA members and a civilian who had accidentally driven into the ambush. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident since the days of the Anglo-Irish War (1919–1922). Six IRA members from a supporting unit managed to escape. The Volunteers killed at Loughgall were Declan Arthurs (21), Tony Gormley (24), Eugene Kelly (25), Pádraig McKearney (32), Jim Lynagh (31), Gerard O'Callaghan (28), Seamus Donnelly (19) and unit commander Patrick Joseph Kelly (30). The eight volunteers killed in the ambush became known as the "Loughgall Martyrs" among many republicans.

In December 2011, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)'s Historical Enquiries Team found that not only did the IRA team fire first but that they could not have been safely arrested. They concluded that the SAS were justified in opening fire.

In 2012 a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in Tyrone distanced itself from a republican commemoration of those killed in the ambush. This was in response to a complaint from Democratic Unionist Party Assemblyman William McCrea accusing the GAA of turning a blind eye to "republican terrorist" events in the last years. GAA Central Council official reply was that "The GAA has strict protocols and rules in place regarding the use of property for Political purposes. (...) The Association is committed to a shared future based on tolerance for the different identities and cultural backgrounds of people who share this Community and this island."

In the aftermath of the Loughgall ambush
The SAS ambush had no noticeable long-term effect on the level of IRA activity in East Tyrone. The level of IRA activity in the area did not show any real decline in the aftermath: in the two years before the Loughgall ambush the IRA killed seven people in East Tyrone and North Armagh, and eleven in the two years following the ambush. Additionally, most of the attacks which took place in County Fermanagh during this period of the Troubles were also launched from south Tyrone and Monaghan. However, many of their remaining members were young and inexperienced and fell into further ambushes, leading to high casualties by the standards of the low intensity guerrilla conflict in Northern Ireland. Ed Moloney, Irish journalist and author of the Secret History of the IRA, states that the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade lost 53 members killed in the Troubles, the highest of any rural Brigade area. Of these, 28 were killed between 1987 and 1992.

A major IRA attack in County Tyrone took place on 20 August 1988, barely a year after Loughall, which ended in the deaths of eight soldiers when a British Army bus was destroyed by a bomb at Curr Road, near Ballygawley. The soldiers were being transported from RAF Aldergrove to a military base near Omagh after returning from leave in England. This attack forced the British military to ferry their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter. On 30 August 1988, an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin as they tried to kill an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment member near Carrickmore. According to author Nick Van der Bijl, British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the bombing of the military bus at Curr Road. Peter Taylor, instead, says that only Mullin was suspected, and that plans for the SAS operation were already underway at the time of the IRA roadside bomb attack. On 16 September 1989, a British sergeant of the Royal Corps of Signals (Kevin Froggett) was shot and killed by an IRA sniper while he was repairing a radio mast at Coalisland Army/RUC base.

According to journalist Ed Moloney, Michael "Pete" Ryan (himself killed with two other IRA volunteers on 3 June 1991), an alleged top Brigade member, was the commander of the IRA flying column that launched the attack on Derryard checkpoint in Fermanagh on 13 December 1989. British military sources reported that other IRA volunteers from East Tyrone were involved in the assault. The checkpoint was stormed using an improvised armoured truck and two British soldiers (James Houston and Michael Patterson) were killed in action. Journalist Ian Bruce claims that an unidentified Irishman who had served in the Parachute Regiment was the leader of the IRA unit, citing intelligence sources.

Main actions
On 11 February 1990 the brigade managed to shoot down a British Army Gazelle helicopter near Clogher by machine gun fire and wounding three soldiers, one of them seriously. The helicopter was hit between Clogher and Augher, over the border near Derrygorry, across the border. The Gazelle broke up during the subsequent crash-landing.

On 4 March 1990, ten IRA volunteers launched an assault on the RUC station at Stewartstown using an improvised flamethrower consisting of a manure-spreader towed by a tractor to spray 600 Impgal of a petrol/diesel mix to set the base ablaze, and then opened up with rifles and an RPG-7 rocket launcher. The next day the IRA threatened any contractor who took on repair of the station.

On 24 March 1990, there was a gun battle between an IRA unit and undercover British forces in the main street of the village of Cappagh, County Tyrone, in which IRA members fired at a civilian-type car driven by security forces, according to Archie Hamilton, then Secretary of State for Defence. Hamilton stated that there were no security or civilian casualties. An Phoblacht claimed the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. A second shooting took place in the village of Pomeroy on 28 June, this time against British regular troops. One soldier was seriously wounded.

On 5 September 1990, an "engineering" IRA unit from the Tyrone Brigade, supported by armed militants, planted a massive car bomb outside the RUC barracks at Loughgall. A warning was delivered, and the device exploded after midnight, causing extensive damage to the base.

On 1 January 1991, a British Army checkpoint was fired on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. On 26 March, an IRA unit firing a light machine gun disrupted a UDR mobile checkpoint at Lurgylea road, north of Cappagh. No casualties were reported.

On 31 January 1992, an IRA van bomb blew up in downtown Dungannon, resulting in three people wounded and severe property damage to the city centre and to the RUC/Army base.

Last SAS ambushes
In October 1990, two IRA volunteers from the brigade (Dessie Grew and Martin McCaughey) were shot dead near Loughgall by SAS undercover members while allegedly collecting two rifles from an IRA arms dump.

On 3 June 1991, three IRA men, Lawrence McNally, Michael "Pete" Ryan, and Tony Doris, died in another SAS ambush at Coagh, where their car was riddled with gunfire. Ryan, according to Moloney, had led the mixed flying column under direct orders of top IRA Army Council member Thomas "Slab" Murphy two years before. The RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen.

Another four IRA members were killed in an ambush in February 1992. The four, Peter Clancy, Kevin Barry O'Donnell, Sean O'Farrell and Patrick Vincent, were killed at Clonoe after an attack on the RUC station in Coalisland. O'Donnell had been released without charges for possession of weapons on two different occasions in the past. They had mounted a heavy DShK machine gun on the back of a stolen lorry, driven right to the RUC/British Army station and opened fire with tracer ammunition at the fortified base at point-blank range, no efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. After the shooting they drove past the house of Tony Doris, the IRA man killed the previous year, where they fired more shots in the air and were heard to shout, "Up the 'RA, that's for Tony Doris". A support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights. Six attackers gathered on the same spot afterwards. The IRA men were intercepted by the SAS as they were trying to dump the lorry and escape in cars in the car park of Clonoe Roman Catholic church, whose roof was set on fire by Army flares. Two IRA men escaped from the scene, but the four named above were killed. One British soldier was wounded. Author Brendan O'Brien reports a witness claiming that some of the men were wounded and tried to surrender but were killed by the British soldiers. Patrick Vincent was shot in the cab of the lorry whilst Kevin Barry O'Donnell and Peter Clancy were shot just outside. Sean O'Farrell was wounded and attempted to escape. After being caught he was put up against a fence and killed.

According a British intelligence officer, from then on, the brigade change tactics and resorted mostly to mortar attacks on security bases, while the British Army reinforced their patrols around the main urban centers in the county.

Main actions
In March 1992, members of the brigade destroyed McGowan's service station along the Ballygawley-Dungannon road with a 150 lb bomb, on the basis that they were supplying British forces, while a soldier was wounded in the arms by a tripwire bomb at Flavour Royal, near Augher, and had to be airlifted.

A part-time RUC barracks at Fivemiletown, County Tyrone, in the operational area of the brigade, was destroyed by an IRA tractor-bomb on 7 May 1992, though the attack was claimed by the South Fermanagh Brigade. In the aftermath of the bombing, on 9 May, a sergeant mayor of the 1st Battalion, the Staffordshire Regiment was shot and killed by a soldier of his company in a blue-on-blue incident at the same spot, while taking part of a security detail around the devastated base. According to a later IRA's statement, the destruction of the security base forced the RUC and the British Army to organised their patrols from nearby RUC barracks at Clogher, allowing the East Tyrone Brigade to study their pattern and carry out a deadly ambush in December 1993.

Another IRA bomb attack on 12 May 1992, against British troops on patrol near Cappagh, in which a paratrooper lost both legs, triggered a series of clashes on that date between soldiers and local residents in the staunchly republican town of Coalisland, on 12 and 17 May 1992. The 12 May riots ended with the paratroopers' assault on three bars, where they injured seven civilians. Another street fracas five days later, on 17 May, between a King's Own Scottish Borderers platoon and a group of nationalist youths in Coalisland resulted in the theft of an army machine gun and a new confrontation with the paratroopers. Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but were acquitted in 1993. Five were bound over.

At least two minor engagements occurred in the following weeks between members of the brigade and British Army foot patrols. On 22 June 1992, British troops exchange fire with snipers near Cookstown, while a British soldier from the Coldstream Guards was seriously wounded in Pomeroy when his patrol was fired on by an IRA unit on 2 August 1992. Another soldier in the same patrol had a narrow escape when a rifle round hit his gear. News reports claim that the IRA used an AK-74 rifle in the Pomeroy ambush. IRA volunteers from the Tyrone Brigade also carried out attacks with automatic weapons on the RUC barracks at Dungannon, on 21 June 1992 and on the British Army base at Omagh, on 7 December 1992.

The brigade was the first to use the Mark-15 Barrack-Buster mortar in an attack on 7 December 1992 against the RUC station in Ballygawley. The heavy mortar round, fired from a tractor near the town's health center, was deflected by a tree besides the barracks wall. Several people was evacuated, and the bomb disposal squad struggled 10 hours to defuse the device. A later IRA statement acknowledges that the mortar bomb had "failed to detonate properly".

On 19 January 1993 the brigade claimed that their volunteers uncovered and destroyed a British army observation post concealed in a derelict house in Drumcairne Forest, near Stewartstown. The same source reported that a British helicopter, a military ambulance and ground troops arrived to the scene shortly after, and that local residents believed that two soldiers had been wounded. Press reports at the time say that an abandoned house on Castlefarm Road was shattered by an explosion and subsequent fire, but that there were no security forces in the area when the device went off.

On 30 March 1993, one of the brigade units claimed they thwarted a British undercover operation by detonating an explosive device in the Glen, between Loughmacrory and Mountfield, near the spot where the British personnel were hidden. An RUC report confirms that a bomb exploded close to a combined RUC-British Army patrol in the area. According to them, a second 264 lb device was defused in the follow-up operation.

From mid-1992 up to the 1994 cease fire, IRA units in east and south Tyrone carried out a dozen bomb and mortar attacks against RUC and military bases and assets. The facilities targeted by "Barrack Buster" mortars included the above-mentioned Ballygawley barracks, a British Army border outpost at Aughnacloy, the RUC barracks at Clogher and Beragh, both resulting in massive damage but no fatalities; two attacks on the RUC base in Caledon, which was also hit by gunfire in the second attack, and the RUC compounds at Dungannon, Fintona, Carrickmore, and Pomeroy.

A brigade statement claims that late on the evening of 26 April 1993, a "variation" of the Mark-15 was fired at a British Army position on an open field near the river Fury, a few miles east of Clogher. According to them, the explosion was heard from Augher to Fivemiletown, and there was a number of British casualties. A British Army report states that a 100 lb device exploded beside an army patrol near County Bridge, a border crossing between Augher and Aughnacloy. On 30 April, a heavy horizontal mortar was fired at an RUC patrol vehicle near Ballygawley roundabout; the round missed its target and hit a wall.

The RUC security base at Caledon became the target of the "Barrack Busters" twice. On 11 May 1993, an IRA militant pretending to be a motorist that had been asked to show his licence at the barracks left a van carrying a mortar outside the facilities. The device landed unexploded inside the complex, resulting in its evacuation. The facilities came under attack once again on 7 November, when a supporting team armed with automatic weapons secured the area around the barracks, allowing an Isuzu Trooper carrying a "Barrack Buster" to be driven just outside the base. The support team sprayed the installations with a burst of gunfire, but the mortar overshot the compound, damaging an adjacent church. Fifty people were evacuated. Ulster Unionist Party councillor Jim Hamilton denounced that an IRA unit riding on a three-vehicle motorcade launched the attack after travelling three miles from beyond the Irish border.

On 6 June 1993, an IRA unit converted a stolen van in a "mobile mortar launcher" in the area of Pomeroy and slipped through British forces' surveillance to the RUC barracks at Carrickmore. According to the brigade report, the van, fitted with a Mark-15 mortar, was left besides a military sangar. The area was previously secured by a group of armed volunteers. The unit dispersed after setting on the mortar's timer. The projectile landed within the grounds of the base, causing some damage according to the RUC. The IRA asserts instead that the barracks were "extensively damaged". They also claimed that during the follow-up search, British Army technicians defused with a controlled explosion a 50 lb mortar round, fired three years before.

An explosive device fired at the RUC barracks in Dungannon on 9 July 1993, that according to the IRA was a Mark-15 mortar bomb, prompted the evacuation of a nearby housing state.

Other operations against security facilities in this period included a sniper and small arms attack on the British Army base of Killymeal, Dungannon, on 22 May 1993; the brigade claimed a subsequent exchange of fire between IRA volunteers in supporting role and British soldiers crewing an observation post. RUC sources denied that the soldiers returned fire during the shooting. The fortified courthouse in Cookstown was meanwhile damaged by two bombs planted there on 15 October 1993, in an attack also directed to the adjoining British Army checkpoint. Dozens of residents were evacuated to a neighbouring church's hall. A joint RUC/British Army patrol was caught in the second blast, but no injuries were reported.

A major ambush occurred on 12 December 1993 in Fivemiletown, when an RUC mobile patrol received intense cross fire from a brigade's active unit on the town's main street, and two constables were slain. A second IRA rifle team fired at a British Army Lynx helicopter sending in reinforcements to the area over the surroundings of Fivemiletown. All the IRA members involved withdrew successfully.

On 21 February 1994, the brigade launched a mortar attack from a travelling van on the RUC barracks at Beragh. The base suffered "major structural damage", as well as most houses in the village.

On 9 April 1994, after a three-day IRA ceasefire, a Mark-15 mortar was launched at midday at the British Army permanent checkpoint in Aughnacloy. The heavy projectile landed at the rear of the small base without exploding, forcing the evacuation of Coronation Park housing state. According to other sources, the device actually exploded but caused little damage. The East Tyrone Brigade reported that they took over the area between the checkpoint and the border, set a roadblock, then drove a tractor carrying the mortar to the firing point and issued a 30-minute warning. On 27 May 1994, the British Army checkpoint at Aughnacloy was the target of an attack once again, when the compound came under automatic fire from an improvised tactical vehicle consisting of a Ford Transit van mounting a concealed heavy machine gun. British troops manning the outpost returned fire. The armed vehicle crossed the border after the engagement.

Sources from the brigade released a detailed statement on the attack on Pomeroy security base, carried out in the first hours of 26 June 1994, claiming that they had fired a single 220 lb Mark-15 barrack-buster bomb. The unit, moving on two vehicles from the townland of Turnabarson, managed to snake into a heavy patrolled area to the firing point on Station Road and launched the shell by timer from a range of 70 yard. The British Army claimed that the mortar round exploded in a bog just outside the perimeter fence, while the IRA unit said that the bomb landed in the grounds of the barracks. No injuries were reported.

On 15 July 1994, an armed dump truck ambushed an RUC armoured mobile patrol at Killeshil, near Dungannon. Incidentally, the RUC vehicle was carrying in custody Pat Treanor, a Sinn Féin councillor from Clones, a border town in County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. The RUC patrol returned fire. Three constables and Treanor were wounded, as well as a passing-by elderly female motorist whose car was hit by the RUC vehicle. The IRA unit managed to get away unscathed.

Botched operations
There were also a number of roadside bomb and mortar attacks thwarted by the security forces in east and south Tyrone in this period. A primed Mk-12 horizontal mortar was defused near Clogher on 9 April 1992 by British Army technicians, while a trailer carrying a 'barrack buster' was recovered by security forces and also defused in the same area on 16 January 1994. The IRA acknowledged that the attack "had to be abandoned due to heavy presence of crown forces in the area". On 30 July 1993, a 20 lb device was uncovered by security forces in Pomeroy, and one man was arrested. The RUC claim that the machine gun stolen in Coalisland and other arms were recovered from a farmhouse near Cappagh on 29 May 1992. An IRA volunteer was arrested, while two other members of the IRA made good their escape. Nationalist politician Bernardette Devlin McAliskey suggested that the recovery of the machine gun was actually staged by the security forces as a publicity stunt. On 11 May 1993, British security forces found and defused a horizontal mortar complete with warhead in Dungannon. An IRA man was taken in custody in Newtownstewart, west Tyrone, on 10 July 1993, after being injured during a mishap while testing an improvised mortar in a barn near Dungannon whose firing pack exploded prematurely.

British casualties
Three active members of the security forces were killed by the East Tyrone Brigade during this period. Among them there were Constable Andrew Beacom and Reserve Constable Ernest Smith, the two RUC members ambushed and shot dead while driving a civilian type vehicle in Fivemiletown's main street on 12 December 1993. Another fatality was a Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) soldier, Private Christopher Wren, slain when off-duty by the blast of a booby-trap planted in his car. The device exploded while he was driving on Carrydarragh road, near Moneymore, County Londonderry, on 31 May 1993, just a few miles from Cookstown. A second soldier, Sergeant Dean Oliver, died in a fratricide incident in Fivemiletown on 9 May 1992, in the aftermath of an IRA bomb attack in the area, as mentioned above.

At least two British soldiers were severely wounded in action near Cappagh and Pomeroy in 1992.

Other attacks
On 17 January 1992, an IRA roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 workers who had been re-building Lisanelly British Army base in Omagh. Eight were killed and the rest were badly wounded. The bombing was at Teebane Crossroads, near Cookstown. One of the workers killed, Robert Dunseath, was an off-duty Royal Irish Rangers soldier. Two of the wounded were also off-duty UDR soldiers. The IRA said that the workers were legitimate targets because they were "collaborating" with the "forces of occupation". As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. The UDA retaliated by shooting dead five Catholic male civilians inside a betting shop on the Ormeau Road, Belfast.

IRA volunteers in Tyrone were the target of an assassination campaign carried out by the loyalist paramilitaries of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The UVF killed 40 people in East Tyrone between 1988 and 1994. Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no known paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. When the IRA responded by killing a retired UDR member, Leslie Dallas, and two elderly Protestants, Austin Nelson and Ernest Rankin at Coagh, on 7 March 1989, the UVF shot dead three IRA members and a Catholic civilian in a pub in Cappagh on 3 March 1991. The main target, Brian Arthurs, escaped injury. The IRA alleged that Dallas was a senior UVF member but this was denied by his family, the police, and the UVF. Both Lost Lives and the Sutton Index of Deaths (at CAIN) list him as a civilian. The IRA retaliated on 5 August 1991 by shooting and killing a former UDR soldier leaving his workplace along Altmore Road, Cappagh. On 11 January 1993 a former sergeant of the B-Specials (Matthew Boyd) was shot dead while driving his car along Donaghmore Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone. The IRA claimed the man was a UVF commander, responsible for the killings of Catholic civilians. This was denied by the dead man's family. CAIN lists Boyd as a Protestant civilian. A former UDR soldier (David Martin) was killed when an IRA bomb exploded underneath his car in Kildress, County Tyrone on 25 April 1993; it was claimed that he had loyalist connections. The latter attack led to loyalist allegations that the IRA was killing Protestant land-owners in Tyrone and Fermanagh in an orchestrated campaign to drive Protestants out of the region, to the point that they drew an analogy with contemporaneous ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. This is disputed by some authors as an "exaggeration".

A gun attack on the home of DUP politician Willie McCrea on 10 July 1994 at Magherafelt, County Londonderry, was attributed to members of the East Tyrone Brigade. Sources claim that the IRA leadership stood down the unit responsible.

List of actions from 1996 until the 1997 IRA ceasefire
There were a number of actions carried out by the IRA in the eastern part of Tyrone from 1996 up to the latest IRA ceasefire of July 1997:
 * 2 February 1996: the house of a part-time member of the RUC was riddled with 57 gunshots in Moy. There were no casualties. A 'senior security source' claimed that the IRA was responsible, although the IRA later denied as "mischievous" any claims that it was involved in the incident.
 * 5 February 1997: an IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar at an RUC patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon. There were no injuries.
 * 10 February 1997: a horizontal mortar fired by an IRA unit hit an RUC armoured vehicle leaving a security base. The ambush took place outside the village of Pomeroy. One RUC officer was injured.
 * 22 February 1997: an IRA mortar unit was intercepted by the RUC in Caledon, on its way to carry out an attack on a British security facility. A five-mile (8 km) chase followed before the IRA volunteers managed to escape on foot.
 * 26 March 1997: a grenade was thrown by IRA volunteers at the British Army/RUC base in Coalisland. The device holed the perimeter fence. Undercover members of the British Army shot and seriously injured 19-year-old republican Gareth Doris in the aftermath. The soldiers left the scene under the protection of the RUC after being cornered by a crowd. Two women were wounded by plastic bullets fired by RUC officers. Doris recovered from his wounds and was sentenced to ten years in jail for involvement in the attack before being released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
 * 5 July 1997: In Coalisland, a female RUC officer from Portadown was shot in the face by an IRA volunteer during an attack on an armoured vehicle beside the British Army/RUC base. Her wounds were said to be non life-threatening.
 * 8 July 1997: A landmine was planted by the IRA near Dungannon, leading to a bomb alert. There were no casualties.
 * 9 July 1997: IRA gunmen hijacked and burned a number of vehicles at Dungannon.

Róisín McAliskey, daughter of political activist Bernadette McAliskey and suspected IRA member from Coalisland was accused by German authorities of being involved in a mortar attack on British Army facilities in Osnabrück, Germany, on 28 June 1996. Her extradition from Northern Ireland was eventually denied in 2007 due to discrepancies in the claims against her.

The commander of the brigade, Kevin McKenna, was appointed Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1983. He would be the longest-serving volunteer in this position, right up to the 1997 ceasefire.

title: Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade


text:
Scarecrow (Oz)

The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W.W. Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely naïve. Throughout the course of the novel, he proves to have the brains he seeks and is later recognized as "the wisest man in all of Oz," although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz to Princess Ozma and become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time having fun than advising.

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
In Baum's classic 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the living scarecrow encounters Dorothy Gale in a field in the Munchkin Country while she is on her way to the Emerald City. He tells her about his creation and of how he at first scared away the crows, before an older one realized he was a straw man, causing the other crows to start eating the corn. The old crow then told the Scarecrow about the importance of brains. The "mindless" Scarecrow joins Dorothy in the hope that The Wizard will give him a brain. They are later joined by the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. When the group goes to the West, he kills the Witch's crows by breaking their necks. He is torn apart by the Flying Monkeys and his clothes thrown up a tree, but when his clothes are filled with straw he is back again. After Dorothy and her friends have completed their mission to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, the Wizard gives the Scarecrow brains (made out of bran, pins and needles – in reality, a placebo, as he has been the most intelligent of the group all along). Before he leaves Oz in a balloon, the Wizard appoints the Scarecrow to rule the Emerald City in his absence. He accompanies Dorothy and the others to the palace of the Good Witch of the South Glinda, and she uses the Golden Cap to summon the Winged Monkeys, who take the Scarecrow back to the Emerald City.

His desire for a brain notably contrasts with the Tin Woodman's desire for a heart, reflecting a common debate between the relative importance of the mind and emotions. Indeed, both believe they have neither. This philosophical debate between the two friends as to why their own choices are superior; neither convinces the other and Dorothy, listening, is unable to decide which one is right. Symbolically, because they remain with Dorothy throughout her quest, she is provided with both and need not select.

Later Oz books
The Scarecrow also appears in other Oz books, sharing further adventures with Dorothy and her friends. His reign as king of the Emerald City ends in The Marvelous Land of Oz when General Jinjur and her Army of Revolt oust him in a coup. He manages to escape the palace and joins Tip and his companions in seeking the aid of Glinda the Good. He spars with H. M. Woggle-Bug T. E. on the value of education. Although he claims to be educated himself and to value education, he finds the Woggle-Bug's learning rote and without wisdom. Although he cannot eat, he tells Billina that she might be better cooked and generally seems to favor the use of animals as food, sometimes making snide remarks to that effect to his animal companions, although he himself only gathers nuts and fruit for his traveling companions, such as Dorothy and Tip, to eat.

By The Road to Oz he is acknowledged, at least by the Tin Woodman, to be "probably the wisest man in all Oz," and this is the caption of an illustration, suggesting that the reader take his comment at face value. Dorothy herself, in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, praises the Scarecrow's wisdom and says the Scarecrow seemed just as wise before the Wizard gave him brains as after. In The Emerald City of Oz, the Scarecrow lives in a house-shaped like an ear of corn in Winkie Country. In The Scarecrow of Oz, the Scarecrow travels to Jinxland, where he helps Cap'n Bill, Trot and Button-Bright overthrow the villainous King Krewl. In Glinda of Oz the Scarecrow serves as Regent to Ozma of Oz, demonstrating that he is Ozma's third in command. Mostly all he does is play croquet until Ozma's advisers, including himself, band together for a rescue operation.

In The Royal Book of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson, Baum's authorized successor as "Royal Historian of Oz", Professor Woggle-Bug accused the Scarecrow of having no ancestry, so he returns to the pole at the cornfield where he was once hung. Sliding down it and descending underground, he first encounters the Middlings and then the Silver Islands, whose people believe themselves to be the ancestors of the Chinese. Apparently, when Emperor Chang Wang Woe defeated the king of the Golden Islands in battle, the king hired a sorcerer to sneak into the palace and transform the Emperor into a crocus, which later sprouted into a bean pole, preceding a prophecy that the first being to touch the bean pole would become possessed by the spirit of the Emperor. As it turned out, the first thing to touch the pole was the straw-stuffed human, which would become the Scarecrow. This account is not consistent with the Scarecrow's story in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz of becoming aware of each sense as the relevant organs were painted on his head.

Scholarly interpretations
Economics and history professors have published scholarly studies that indicate the images and characters used by Baum and Denslow closely resembled political images that were well known in the 1890s. The Scarecrow, like other characters and elements in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was a common theme found in editorial cartoons of the previous decade. Baum and Denslow, like most writers, used the materials at hand that they knew best. They built a story around them, added Dorothy, and added a series of lessons to the effect that everyone possesses the resources they need (such as brains, a heart, and courage) if only they had self-confidence. Although it was a children's book, of course, Baum noted in the preface that it was a "modernized" fairy tale as well.

Those who interpret The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a political allegory often see the Scarecrow, a central figure, as a reflection of the popular image of the American farmer— although he has been persuaded that he is only a stupid hick, he possesses common sense, logic and a quick wit that needs only to be reinforced by self-confidence.

The blackface minstrel star Fred Stone was the first to play the Scarecrow on stage, and he brought his minstrel style of performance to the role of the Scarecrow. Baum was delighted with Stone's performance, and he wrote subsequent Oz books with Stone's minstrel-style in mind.

Television

 * In the 1961 animated TV series Tales of the Wizard of Oz, and its sequel, the 1964 NBC animated television special Return to Oz, the Scarecrow (here named Socrates) was voiced by Alfie Scopp.
 * In an episode of The World's Greatest Super Friends titled "Planet of Oz," Aquaman temporarily became the Scarecrow after a tornado took him, Superman and Wonder Woman to Mister Mxyzptlk’s Planet of Oz.
 * In a 1981 episode of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Shaggy is dressed as the Scarecrow after a tornado took him, Scooby, and Scrappy to "Ahz", a direct spoof of Oz with a different spelling by its enunciation.
 * Jackson Browne performed this character in the 1995 television special The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True. The Kansas farmworker Hunk does not appear in this production. Browne sang a folk music tempo of If I Only Had a Brain and the bridge verses sung by the Scarecrow in Nathan Lane's longer version of If I Only Had the Nerve.
 * In the 1996 The Oz Kids, animated cartoon, the Scarecrow now rules the Emerald City and has a son named Scarecrow, Jr. His son is smart and knows everything just like him. Scarecrow, Sr. is voiced by Andy Milder.
 * The 2003 Strawberry Shortcake cartoon's fourth season has the episode Berry Brick Road, where the titular protagonist gets whisked to the land of Oz. The Scarecrow returns as her first companion, now being played by Ginger Snap and sharing his voice actor with the latter. (Strawberry Shortcake herself plays Dorothy Gale.) The Scarecrow's appearance has been changed to look like Ginger Snap, sporting long pigtails that reach his waist and a jacket just like the one she wears for her default outfit.
 * In the 2005 ABC television movie The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Kermit the Frog plays the role of the Scarecrow. Kermit's other role was himself. Before Dorothy's journey, he organizes a talent scout for a star for a new show. After Dorothy's return, he hires her.
 * In the 2007 Sci Fi television miniseries Tin Man, the Scarecrow is re-imagined as the character named "Glitch" (played by Alan Cumming). Formerly a chief adviser to the queen of the Outer Zone (O.Z.) named Ambrose, he resists her usurper (and daughter), the evil sorceress Azkadellia and has his brain removed by the physician as a reeducation measure. In the series, he wanders the O.Z. searching for his brain and becomes a companion of the protagonist, a girl named DG.
 * In the 2007 VeggieTales episode The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's, the Scarecrow and his Kansas counterpart from the 1939 film were played by Mr. Lunt the Gourd.
 * A commercial for GE smart-grid technology, which first aired during the Super Bowl XLIII, featured a computerized Scarecrow dancing clumsily on a radio tower singing "If I Only Had a Brain".
 * In the 2017 live-action series Emerald City, a more modern retelling, the Scarecrow equivalent in the series is "Lucas" (portrayed by Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and is an amnesic man who is rescued by Dorothy when she finds him being crucified at the start of her journey. In the course of the story, it is revealed that he is actually Rowan, the husband of Glinda, with his amnesia the result of a spell Glinda casts so that he couldn't betray her secrets if he was captured, but the restoration of his memory puts him and Dorothy at odds, as his devotion to Glinda leaves him incapable of recognizing Dorothy's real objections to Glinda's extreme methods to train younger witches. Psychologically torn between his memories as Rowan and his new relationships as Lucas, he eventually forces Dorothy to stab him to stop himself strangling her, culminating in Dorothy leaving him strung up like a scarecrow to symbolically reflect his desire to have never met her. Despite this, he appears in Kansas in the season finale, accompanied by Toto, to ask Dorothy to return with him to Oz.
 * The Scarecrow appeared in the Once Upon a Time episode "Our Decay", voiced by Paul Scheer. Many years ago, Zelena the Wicked Witch of the West targeted him for his brain as part of her attempt to create a time-travel spell. Before she can remove Scarecrow's brain, Dorothy and Toto arrived where they managed to get away from Zelena. With help from Hades who enchanted a bicycle that was found at the remains of Dorothy's house, Zelena was able to locate where Dorothy and Scarecrow are hiding. After magically freezing Dorothy, Zelena successfully removed Scarecrow's brain and was about to show it to Hades only to find that he is not there.
 * Scarecrow appears in the 2017 animated television series Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.
 * Scarecrow appears in Lost In Oz, voiced by Stephen Stanton.
 * Although not a direct adaptation to the literature itself, the 2013 Super Sentai series, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger features the Deboth Army's members being themed after the characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The then-Funfilled Spy Luckyulo is designed with the motif of the Scarecrow, who also shares his airheadedness and naivety to his source of inspiration.

Films

 * The Scarecrow has appeared in nearly every early Oz film, portrayed by different actors each time, including Frank Burns in The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908); Robert Z. Leonard in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910); Herbert Glennon in The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914); Frank Moore in His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914); and Donald Henderson in The Land of Oz (1932).
 * In the 1925 film Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man were actually human farmhands, who were blown to Oz by the tornado along with Dorothy. Dorothy, in another major departure from the novel, turns out to be the rightful ruler of Oz, having been exiled to Kansas as a baby.

 * In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow was played by Ray Bolger in what is arguably the actor's most famous role. He was originally cast as the Tin Woodsman, but Bolger had always wanted to play the Scarecrow, he was so upset about it since he wanted to switch roles with Buddy Ebsen, who was originally going to play the Scarecrow. Ebsen didn't mind the swap, so Bolger and Ebsen swapped roles. While Ray was pleased with his role as the Scarecrow, the aluminum dust from Ebsen's Tin Man make-up nearly choked him to death (causing Ebsen to have to give up that role). Ebsen was replaced by Jack Haley for his role of the Tin Man. Bolger's costume consisted of a straw-stuffed suit and a light face mask of rubber designed to simulate burlap. The mask was fragile and usually had to be completely replaced at the start of each new day of filming. Bolger's Scarecrow costume, minus the mask, is part of the collections of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. Bolger was a talented dancer, so The Scarecrow was given an extended dance sequence in the movie. However, to shorten the movie, much of this sequence was edited out since it would slow down the pace of the film. While Bolger admitted in a 1939 radio broadcast that he was too young to have seen Fred Stone play the Scarecrow in the 1902 musical extravaganza, he told Stone on the broadcast that the first play he was allowed to see was The Red Mill featuring Stone, and that his performance in that play was an inspiration. During the scene where the Scarecrow gets his "brain" (an honorary Ph.D. diploma) from the Wizard, he incorrectly recites the Pythagorean theorem, emphasizing that the real gift bestowed upon the characters was confidence in qualities they already possess. Bolger also portrayed the Scarecrow's Kansas counterpart, Hunk (one of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry's farmworkers), newly created for the film by screenwriter Noel Langley. A scene which was written in the script, but dropped before filming commenced, ended the movie by sending Hunk off to agricultural college, with Dorothy promising to write. The scene implied the potential for a romance between the two characters. He helps Zeke (Cowardly Lion's alter ego) and Hickory (Tin Man's alter ego) repair a wagon. Unlike Zeke, Hickory and Hunk lose their hats with Uncle Henry as they struggle to open the cellar when the tornado approaches their farm. He closes and locks the cellar with Zeke when Dorothy arrives at the farmhouse. Hunk reunites with Dorothy when she awakens from being unconscious. He is seen with Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, Zeke, Hickory, and Professor Marvel (The Wizard's alter ego).
 * In the animated film Journey Back to Oz (produced in 1964 but not released until the 1970s), the Scarecrow was voiced by Mickey Rooney.
 * Justin Case, an English bicycle acrobat, appeared briefly as the Scarecrow in the 1985 film Return to Oz. He was turned into an ornament by Nome King. Scarecrow was restored when Dorothy quoted Oz upon touching a green ornament. When Princess Ozma was freed from her mirror prison, Scarecrow allows her to regain the throne.
 * In the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful, the Scarecrow's origins are explained; being fabricated by the townspeople of Oz as a diversionary tactic during the retaliatory attack on the Emerald City.
 * American voice actor Michael Gough voices the Scarecrow in 2011's direct-to-DVD animated film Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz.
 * The Scarecrow appears in the 2012 film Dorothy and the Witches of Oz played by Ari Zigaris. He appears on Earth in the form of a man named Allen Denslow who works as the illustrator of Dorothy Gale's books.
 * The Scarecrow appeared in the animated film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (which is based on Dorothy of Oz), voiced by Dan Aykroyd.
 * Scarecrow appears in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Alongside Dorothy and the rest of her friends, Scarecrow is somehow transported from the Land of Oz to Harmony Town in the Systar System.

Video games

 * The Scarecrow (along with his other friends from OZ) are playable in the Nintendo 3DS game Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.
 * Scarecrow appears in Lego Dimensions, voiced by William Salyers. During the part of the game that takes place in the Land of Oz, Batman mistook Scarecrow for his Scarecrow.
 * The Scarecrow appears as an enemy in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night along with the Tin Man and the Lion in the Forbidden Library.

Live performances

 * Hinton Battle originated the role of the Scarecrow in the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, and Michael Jackson played the Scarecrow in 1978 film adaptation. This version of the Scarecrow was a more tragic character before Dorothy rescues him; while hung on his pole, the crows he is unable to scare, who force him to humiliate himself and entertain them, torment him day and night with their negative and nihilistic worldview, convincing him there's no point in trying to be more than what he is. They force him to sing the song, "You Can't Win", meaning that he cannot escape the crows' rule and his bad luck. While Stan Winston created Jackson's makeup, it was applied to Jackson's face by Michael R. Thomas who portrayed the Scarecrow in Barry Mahon's The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969), as well as doing the makeup for that film. Elijah Kelley portrayed the Scarecrow in the TV special The Wiz Live!, as well as the farmhand Sticks.
 * In 2003 musical of Gregory Maguire's interpretation of the Oz franchise titled Wicked, this version of the Scarecrow was Fiyero Tigelaar, the love interest of Elphaba Thropp. Fiyero attends school with Elphaba and Glinda the Good, while they were all still young. Fiyero takes a special interest in Elphaba. However, he is highly sought after by Elphaba's roommate, Glinda. Fiyero and Elphaba share a secret romance, and when she leaves for the Emerald City, he gives her a long and meaningful goodbye. Many years later, after Elphaba goes into hiding, we are shown that Glinda and Fiyero are to be wed. However, this is not because of love, at least not on Fiyero's part, for he still loves Elphaba. Once she reappears in the Emerald City, they escape together, much to Glinda's discontent. Elphaba then goes to the site of her sister's death (Dorothy's arrival into Oz). Here she is ambushed by guards, and about to be taken away when Fiyero saves her, but he is merely sacrificing himself to save her. Elphaba in a fit of rage and heartbreak reads a spell to keep Fiyero safe, with the words of the spell including pleas to let him feel no pain and never die however they try to destroy him. Although Elphaba abandons the spell as she believes it is not working, it is not until the end of the production that we are shown that Fiyero is still alive, and has been transformed into the Scarecrow from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".
 * The Scarecrow is made a more prominent character in its Broadway musical adaptation Wicked. In the musical, the Scarecrow is revealed to be the remnants of Fiyero after he was captured by the Wizard's officials but made impervious to injury by Elphaba's incomplete spell. The Fiyero-Scarecrow executes a plan to save Elphaba by using the rumor that water will melt her; thus she stays alive and the two move out of Oz. This has no basis in the book other than that in the final scenes Elphaba hopes that the Scarecrow is really her beloved Fiyero in disguise, which is proven to be a false hope when he is attacked and she sees that he is nothing but straw. In the musical, the Fiyero-Scarecrow's appearance and style of walking are based on Bolger's portrayal of the Scarecrow in the 1939 film.

Comic books and novels

 * A character inspired by the Scarecrow appears in Alan Moore's Lost Girls. In the work, a young farm boy becomes Dorothy Gale's first sex partner. However, she soon grows bored of him because of his lack of intelligence and imagination, comparing it to having sex with something you use to scare the crows. The "scarecrow" tries to prove to Dorothy that he does have a brain and writes her a poem.
 * The Scarecrow is a minor character in author Gregory Maguire's revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
 * The Scarecrow is featured more prominently in Son of a Witch, Maguire's sequel to Wicked. In that novel, the Scarecrow helps the Witch's son Liir avoid political turmoil in the Emerald City after the Wizard's departure. Later, various powerful interests place a different Scarecrow on the throne of Oz to serve as a puppet ruler; the suggestion is that most residents of Oz are unable to distinguish one Scarecrow from another.
 * In the 2014 Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Paige that details a darker depiction of the Land of Oz, the Scarecrow and Dorothy's other companions have been corrupted by their gifts and Dorothy's use of magic. The Scarecrow has become a twisted 'mad scientist', performing various experiments on the animals to turn them into spies or warriors for Dorothy's army, as well as extracting their brains to increase his own. He is 'killed' in the second novel in the series The Wicked Will Rise when the Wizard takes his brains as part of a plan to bring Oz and Kansas together.
 * In the pages of Shazam!, Scarecrow is a resident of the location of the Magic land called Wozenderlands. He and the Munchkins find some of the Shazam Family in their part of Wozenderlands. When Billy Batson, Mary Bromfield, and C.C. Batson are teleported to Wozenderlands, they are taken by Scarecrow and the Munchkins to meet with Dorothy Gale. Scarecrow stated that Dorothy Gale and Alice united the Land of Oz and Wonderland to save them from the threats that came from the Monsterlands. They are attacked by Cheshire Cat near the Blue Brick Road that goes through the Queen of Hearts' forest causing Billy and Mary to drive him off. When Mamaragan appeared and also teleported the rest of the foster siblings to Wozenderlands, White Rabbit then gives Scarecrow the ax that belonged to the Tin Man while apologizing for what the Queen of Hearts and her Card Soldiers did to him. When Mister Mind has Shazam cast a spell to unite the seven Magiclands, Scarecrow and White Rabbit start to see the effects of it.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Scarecrow (Oz)


text:
Lotze

Lotze is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

 * Hermann Lotze (1817–1881), German philosopher and logician
 * Hiltrud Lotze (born 1958), German politician

title: Lotze


text: User:Lanzm~enwiki

title: User:Lanzm~enwiki


text:
Japanese funeral

The majority of funerals (葬儀, sōgi or 葬式, sōshiki) in Japan include a wake, the cremation of the deceased, a burial in a family grave, and a periodic memorial service. According to 2007 statistics, 99.81% of deceased Japanese are cremated.

Other practices in Japan include Shinto funerals and the Ryukyuan people’s indigenous sepultural culture.

After death
Although Japan has become a more secular society (see Religion in Japan),, 90% of funerals are conducted as Buddhist ceremonies. Immediately after a death (or, in earlier days, just before the expected death), relatives moisten the dying or deceased person's lips with water, a practice known as water of the last moment (末期の水). Most Japanese homes maintain Buddhist altars, or butsudan (仏壇), for use in Buddhist ceremonies; and many also have Shinto shrines, or kamidana (神棚). When a death occurs, the shrine is closed and covered with white paper to keep out the impure spirits of the dead, a custom called kamidana-fūji (神棚封じ). A small table decorated with flowers, incense, and a candle is placed next to the deceased's bed.

The relatives and authorities are informed, and a death certificate is issued. Funeral arrangements typically are made by the eldest son and are begun by contacting a temple to schedule the event. Some days are more auspicious than others, based on an old Chinese six-day lunar cycle; in particular, the second day, called tomobiki (友引), is superstitiously understood to mean "pulling your friends along with you" (tomo = friends; hiku = pull, although the original significance was different) and is therefore considered a terrible day for a funeral but a good day for a wedding.

The body is washed and the orifices are blocked with cotton or gauze. An "encoffining" ritual (called a nōkan) is sometimes performed, in which professional nōkansha (納棺者) ritually dress and prepare the body and place it in the coffin (this is portrayed in the 2008 film Departures). The ceremony is now rarely performed, and may be limited to rural areas where older traditions are maintained. Whether or not the encoffining ceremony is performed, a deceased female is dressed in a white kimono, and a deceased male is dressed in a suit or a kimono. Makeup may be applied. The body is put on dry ice in a casket. Items—such as a white kimono, a pair of sandals, six coins for crossing the River of Three Crossings, and burnable items of which the deceased was fond of (for example, cigarettes and candy) are placed in the casket, which is then put on an altar for the wake. The body is placed with its head toward the north or, as a second choice, toward the west. In Buddhism, the western orientation reflects the western realm of Amida Buddha.

During life, both men and women cross the front of a kimono or yukata with the left side over the right. On those occasions in which the corpse is clothed in a traditional kimono, the kimono is crossed right over left.

Wake

Held as soon as possible after death, a Japanese wake is called tsuya (通夜), lit. "passing the night". All funeral guests wear black: men wear black suits with white shirts and black ties, and women wear either black dresses or black kimono. If the deceased was an adherent to Buddhism, a set of prayer beads called juzu (数珠) may be carried by the guests. People attending the wake or funeral offer condolence money to the host/hostess, in special black-and-silver envelopes ('packet for anti-celebration' (不祝儀袋) or 'packet for Buddhist incense offering' (香典袋)). Depending on the relationship to the deceased and the wealth of the guest, the amount may be equivalent to between 3,000 and 30,000 yen. The guests are seated, with immediate relatives seated closest to the front. The Buddhist priest then chants a section from a sutra. The family members will each offer incense three times to the incense urn in front of the deceased. At the same time, the assembled guests will perform the same ritual at another location behind the family members' seats. The wake ends once the priest has completed the sutra. Each departing guest is given a gift, which has a value of about half or one quarter of the condolence money received from this guest. The closest relatives may stay and keep vigil with the deceased overnight in the same room.

Funeral
The funeral proper, called kokubetsu-shiki (告別式), is usually on the day after the wake. The procedure is similar to the wake, and incense is offered while a priest chants a sutra. The ceremony differs slightly as the deceased receives a new Buddhist name (戒名, kaimyō; lit. "precept name") written in Kanji. This name is said to prevent the return of the deceased if their name is called. The length of the name depends also on either the virtue of the person's lifespan or more commonly, the size of the donation of the relatives to the temple, which may range from a generally common name to the most elaborate names for 1 million yen or more. The high prices charged by the temples are a controversial issue in Japan, especially since some temples put pressure on families to buy a more expensive name. The kanji for these kaimyō are usually very ancient, and sometimes with esoteric meanings.

At the end of the funeral ceremony, the guests and family may place flowers in the casket around the deceased's head and shoulders before the casket is sealed and carried to the elaborately decorated hearse and transported to the crematorium. In some regions of Japan, the coffin is nailed shut by the mourners using a stone.

Cremation

The coffin is placed on a tray in the crematorium. The family witnesses the sliding of the body into the cremation chamber. A cremation usually takes about two hours, and the family returns at a scheduled time when the cremation has been completed.

The relatives pick the bones out of the ashes and transfer them to the urn using large chopsticks or metal chopsticks, two relatives holding the same bone at the same time with their chopsticks. In other customs, they pass the bones from chopsticks to chopsticks. Known as kotsuage (骨揚げ), this is the only time in Japan when it is proper for two people to hold the same item at the same time with chopsticks. At all other times, holding anything with chopsticks by two people at the same time, or passing an item from chopsticks to chopsticks, is considered to be a major social faux pas as this will remind bystanders about a funeral. The bones of the feet are picked up first, and the bones of the head are picked up last. This is to ensure that the deceased is not upside down in the urn. The lit. 'throat Buddha' (喉仏), which is a bone located in the neck: the second cervical vertebra ("axis"), is the most significant bone to be placed in the urn. The word nodobotoke in a living person, however, refers to the visible Adam's apple, which is a different organ.

In some cases, the ashes may be divided among more than one urn. For example, some ashes go to a family grave, and some go to the temple or even to a company grave or to a space burial. Depending upon the local custom, the urn may stay at the family home for a period or may be directly taken to the graveyard.

In the Ryukyu Islands, the traditional burial was somewhat different from that in the mainland Japan. Instead of cremation, the body would be temporarily interred in the family tomb (a large burial vault, often of the turtle-back variety); after a few years, once the flesh had decomposed, the bones would be washed and put into the funerary urn, to be permanently stored elsewhere in the tomb.

Grave
A typical Japanese grave is usually a family grave (墓) consisting of a stone monument, with a place for flowers, incense, and water in front of the monument and a chamber or crypt underneath for the ashes.

The date of the erection of the grave and the name of the person who purchased it may be engraved on the side of the monument. The names of the deceased are often but not always engraved on the front of the monument. When a married person dies before his or her spouse, the name of the spouse may also be engraved on the stone, with the letters painted red. After the death and the burial of the spouse, the red ink is removed from the stone. This is usually done for financial reasons, as it is cheaper to engrave two names at the same time than to engrave the second name when the second spouse dies. It can also be seen as a sign that they are waiting to follow their spouse into the grave. However, this practice is less frequent nowadays. The names of the deceased may also be engraved on the left side, or on a separate stone in front of the grave. Often, the name is also written on a sotōba, a separate wooden board on a stand behind or next to the grave. These sotōba may be erected shortly after death, and new ones may be added at certain memorial services.

Some graves may also have a box for business cards, where friends and relatives visiting the grave can drop their business card, informing the caretakers of the grave of the respects the visitors have paid to the deceased.

The high prices of funeral plots, costing on average 2 million yen, have led to a new service of Grave Apartments (お墓のマンション), where a locker-sized grave can be purchased for about 400,000 yen. Some of these may even include a touch screen showing a picture of the deceased, messages, a family tree, and other information. Due to the cost of land, a graveyard in Tokyo has recently been opened by a temple in floors 3 to 8 of a nine-story building, where the lower floors are for funeral ceremonies.

There are a number of cases where the ashes of deceased persons have been stolen from graves. The ashes of famous cartoonist Machiko Hasegawa and of the wife of real estate chairman Takichi Hayasaka were stolen for ransom. The ashes of famous novelist Yukio Mishima (1925–1970) were stolen in 1971 and the ashes of novelist Naoya Shiga were stolen in 1980. The ashes of the wife of the baseball player Sadaharu Oh went missing in December 2002.

Mourning and memorial services
Memorial services depend on local customs. Usually, there are a number of memorial services following the death - for example, daily for the first seven days, or a number of services within the first 49 days, or on the 7th, 49th and 100th day, depending on the local custom. Most commonly observed are the Buddhist service on the seventh day after death, shonanoka (初七日), and the 49th day, shijūkunichi (四十九日). In many traditions, the urn containing the ashes is interred in a ceremony called nōkotsu (納骨) on the 49th day, and the family stays in mourning until this.

After that, there is a memorial service on the Obon festival in honor of the dead. The festival may be held in the 1st year, sometimes in the 3rd and 5th, 7th and 13th years, and a number of times afterwards up to either the 39th or the 50th year. One popular sequence follows the days of the Thirteen Buddhas.

A picture of the deceased is also placed at or near the family altar in the household. Also, in the first year after death, no traditional New Year's Day Postcard is sent or received. The friends and relatives have to be informed of this beforehand so as not to send a card.

Japanese funeral industry
The average cost of a Japanese funeral is about 2.31 million yen (US$25,000) according to a 2008 study by the Japan Consumers Association. This cost includes services such as 401,000 yen for catering to attendants and 549,000 yen for services of the priest. Overall, the industry has a revenue of about 1.5 trillion yen with about 45,000 funeral homes. In 2004, 1.1 million Japanese died (2003: 1.0 million), a number that is expected to rise in the future due to the increase of the average age in Japan; see demographics of Japan. Funeral Business Monthly estimates that there will be 1.7 million deaths by 2035, and revenue of 2 trillion yen in 2040.

Recently there have been some changes in the funeral industry, and some funeral homes offer more competitive and transparent pricing than a standard funeral provider. These offer funerals starting at about 200,000 yen, a fraction of the regular overpriced services, and lists the different options and prices to choose from a la carte. Many of these new funeral homes are started by non-Japanese nationals. Also, recently hotels with a decreasing income due to a decrease in weddings have started to offer funeral services. Overall, the level of competition is increasing. To stay competitive, the prices of regular funeral homes are also decreasing over time. Another recent introduction are services where a person can choose his or her funeral service before death and pays a monthly fee (e.g. 10,000 yen) to cover all costs of the funeral.

History
Throughout Japanese history, famous leaders have often been buried in tombs. The oldest known burial chamber was built between 220 and 230 CE in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, and called the Hokenoyama tomb. The tomb is 80 m long, and the chamber is 7 m long and 2.7 m wide, and contained a coffin 5 m long and 1 m wide. It is not known exactly who is buried there, but it is presumed to be a powerful local leader.

Around 300, the use of burial mounds for important leaders became more frequent. Japan developed its unique keyhole-shaped burial mounds, which are called Kofun (古墳 - the word is used for burial mounds of all shapes), and the period from 250 to 538 is called the Kofun period. Although 50 years ago it was believed that these mounds had initially been influenced by burial mounds in China via the Korean peninsula, Yayoi-period mounds are generally regarded as their predecessors. It is now believed that burial mounds of Korea built in the 5th and 6th centuries may have been influenced by the kofun of Japan.

There are numerous burial mounds within the geographical range of ancient Yamato-culture, most of which have keyhole-shaped outlines and which measure up to 400 m. The largest is the tomb of Emperor Nintoku in Sakai near Osaka, with a length of 486 m. and covering an area of 300,000 square meters. They are usually surrounded by moats, unless they are constructed on hills. The round halves of these burial mounds contain burial chambers. In the 6th century, round and square burial mounds came into use. The use of burial mounds is believed to have gradually stopped either with the introduction of Buddhism in Japan in the sixth century AD or with the establishment of the capital in Nara by Empress Genmei in 710. Instead, family tombs were constructed with passages that allow additional burials of relatives. Traditionally, the handling of deceased was considered unclean business and was usually done by Burakumin.

Medieval Sōtō Zen funerals
Japanese Buddhist funerals, which make up the vast majority of Japanese funerals today, are generally performed in what was historically the Sōtō Zen style, although today the Sōtō funerary rites have come to define the standard funeral format by most of the other Japanese Buddhist schools. Japanese Zen funeral rites came directly from Chinese Chan funeral rites, which were detailed in the Chanyuan Qinggui (禪院清規, “the pure regulations of the Zen monastery”). The major difference between the earlier Chinese Chan funerals and Japanese Sōtō Zen funerals was that early Japanese monks made no distinction between a monastic funeral for an abbot and the funeral service for a layperson. The first Japanese laypeople to receive Zen funerals were among the ruling elite who sponsored the activities of Zen institutions. One early example of this is the Regent Hōjō Tokimune, who received monastic funeral rites in 1284 at the hands of Chinese monk Wuxue Zuyan. Zen historian Martin Collcutt asserts that “one means by which Zen monks extended their influence in society was by the conduct of funeral services for important patrons.” By the medieval Sōtō period, only a small percentage of the funeral sermons recorded were delivered for members of the monastic order.

The progressive changes in Sōtō Zen funeral rites were not enacted by its founder, Dōgen, but came about years later when Zen master Keizan encouraged Zen monks to go out into the countryside and perform funeral services for the laity. Although Dōgen was the first to implement many aspects of Chinese Chan monastic codes in Japan, his gogoku doesn't contain any funeral sermons. At this point in Japanese history, different schools of Zen were in competition for followers, and they were “more conscious than ever before of the necessity of making available to the laity such rites as funeral services and ancestor worship.” Keizan's inclusive attitudes toward funerals resulted in the building of many temples in rural areas and the gradual expansion of the Sōtō order throughout Japan.

The funeral service that became popular for the Japanese laity in the medieval period was essentially the Chinese Chan service specified for the ordinary monk. The most important phases of this type of Zen funeral were: posthumous ordination, the sermon at the side of the corpse, the circumambulation of the coffin around the cremation ground, and the lighting of the funeral pyre. For a layperson, the posthumous ordination part of the ritual was the most vital, because without ordaining the deceased as a Zen monk, the other funeral rites could not be performed, since Zen funeral rites did not previously exist for laypeople, but only for monks. Once posthumous ordination of the laity was accepted by the Sōtō school, lay funeral practices became possible; today, death rituals mark the central practice at Sōtō Zen parish temples. This practice was one of the first few elements of Sōtō Zen that was standardized by the early Tokugawa period. Since the popularization of Sōtō Zen in medieval Japan, Sōtō Zen funeral practices have been a significant point of contact between the monks and laity, and continue to play an important role in lay religious life today.

Today
Until the early 20th century most bodies were buried and cremation was limited to the wealthy. Cremation became more common after World War II due to its efficiency and cleanliness; in fiscal 2009, 99.9% of Japanese bodies were cremated, and some local governments ban burials.

In a break of tradition from the early Edo period to align with modernity, it has been decided that Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will be cremated after their death instead of ritual burials.

Films

 * The Funeral, a film by Juzo Itami, depicts a Japanese family going through the traditional funeral rituals upon death of one of their relatives.
 * Departures, a 2008 film by Yōjirō Takita, tells a story of an out of work cellist who answers an employment advertisement for a funeral home.

title: Japanese funeral


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Shamian

Shamian (also romanized as Shameen or Shamin, both from its Cantonese pronunciation) is a sandbank island in the Liwan District of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. The island's name literally means "sandy surface" in Chinese.

The territory was divided into two concessions given to France and the United Kingdom by the Qing government in the 19th century (1859–1943). The island is a gazetted historical area that serves as a tranquil reminder of the colonial European period, with quiet pedestrian avenues flanked by trees and lined by historical buildings in various states of upkeep. The island is the location of several hotels, a youth hostel, restaurants and tourist shops selling curios and souvenirs.

Geography
The island covers an area of 0.3 km2, 900 m from east to west, and 300 m from north to south. It is bordered in the south by the Pearl River, and it is separated from the mainland by a canal.

History
Shamian Island was an important port for Guangzhou's foreign trade from the Song to the Qing dynasty. From the 18th to the mid 19th century, the foreigners lived and did business in a row of houses known as the Thirteen Factories, on the banks of the Pearl River to the east the present Shamian, which was then an anchorage for thousands of boat people. In 1859, Great Britain and France dug an artificial river (now called Shajichong) to the north, making it an island. Since then, Shamian became a strategic point for city defense during the First and Second Opium Wars. The British captured the Shamian Fort in the Canton River operations in March 1841 during the First Opium War. In the 1847 expedition to Canton, they seized the Shamian batteries along with the rest of the forts guarding the city. In the first armed conflict of the Second Opium War, the British recaptured the forts in 1856.

In 1859, the territory was divided in two concessions given to France and the United Kingdom (of which 3/5 belonged to the British and 2/5 to the French). It was connected to the mainland by two bridges, which were closed at 10pm as a security measure. The British arch bridge, also called the "Bridge of England" and built in 1861, to the north was guarded by Sikh police officers, and the French bridge to the east was guarded by Vietnamese (Cochinchina) recruits with the Troupes coloniales.

Trading companies from Britain, the United States, France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Portugal, and Japan built stone mansions along the waterfront. The construction on the island was characterized by climate-adapted but Western-plan detached houses with hipped roofs and large verandahs.

The island was the scene of fighting during the "June 23 incident" in 1925.

After 1949, the mansions of Shamian became government offices or apartment houses and the churches were turned into factories.

Religious buildings
The French Catholic chapel, Our Lady of Lourdes Chapel, has been restored and stands on the main boulevard. Located at the French end of the island, it was completed in 1892.

The British Protestant church, Christ Church Shameen, was built in 1865.

Government
The community includes the Shamian Police Station.

Consulates
While Shamian Island in history housed the majority of the consulates in Guangzhou, all have since moved out except the consulate general of Poland which remains at No. 63 Shamian Main Street.

Former consulates on the Island include:
 * Czechoslovakia. The Czech Consulate was for some time located at No. 1 North Shamian Street, in a 1911 building, which later hosted the North Korean trade delegation in Guangzhou.
 * France. No. 20 South Shamian Street.
 * Poland. No. 63 Shamian Main Street.
 * Germany. No. 59 Shamian Main Street South. The building also housed the Asiatic Petroleum Company.
 * Japan. No. 22 South Shamian Street.
 * Norway. No. 54 Shamian Main Street North.
 * Portugal. No. 42 South Shamian Street.
 * Soviet Union. The Soviet Consulate was for some time located at 68 Shamian Main Street North, in a 1916 building.
 * United Kingdom. No. 44-46 South Shamian Street.
 * United States. The U.S. Consulate Guangzhou was located at No. 56 Shamian Main Street North from 1873 to 1938, and later during several months in 1949. In April 1990, the consulate moved again to Shamian Island, where it occupied the Consulate Tower, a new building at No. 1 Shamian South Street, built on reclaimed land near the Pearl River and next to the White Swan Hotel. In 2005, the Consular Section of the Consulate moved to a location in Tianhe District. In July 2013, the consulate was relocated to a new building within Zhujiang New Town. The consulate's location made Shamian Island a hub for U.S. families adopting children from China.

Education
Schools in the community include Shamian Primary School and Shamian Experimental Primary School.

Recreation
Shamian Park and the Shamian Tennis Courts  are in the community.

Statues
Various bronze statues are scattered around the island which depict life as it was during earlier periods on the island, as well as from more recent times. For example, one statue entitled "A gentleman, a lady and a darn woman" shows a Western couple watching a Chinese woman darning cloth. Another depicts the changing appearances and stature of Chinese women, with a woman from colonial times in traditional clothing, a slightly taller woman from the early or mid 20th century wearing a cheongsam, and a relatively tall and slender young Chinese woman wearing shorts and talking on a mobile phone.

Transportation
The three east–west streets of the island, formerly named "Canal Street", "Central Avenue" (a tree-lined boulevard), and "Front Avenue" (originally lined on the riverside by parks) were renamed "Shamian North Road" (Shamian Beijie), "Shamian Main Street" (Shamian Dajie), and "Shamian South Road" (Shamian Nanjie). The five north–south streets are named Shamian 1 Street to Shamian 5 Street.

Huangsha Station of Guangzhou Metro is located within a short walk from the island, via an overpass crossing the busy Liu'ersan Road. There is also a ferry running from Huangsha Pier to Fangcun Pier, which runs every 10 minutes carrying foot-passengers and bicycles. Fares are from 0.5 RMB for a foot passenger and 1 RMB for a passenger with a bike. There are no public buses on the island itself, although there are several nearby bus stops.

title: Shamian