Tom McElwee
Thomas "Tom" McElwee ( Irish Tomás Mac Giolla Bhuidhe , born November 30, 1957 in Bellaghy , County Derry , † August 8, 1981 in Maze Prison ) was a member of the IRA and hunger striker .
Tom McElwee, like his cousin Francis Hughes, was involved in the Northern Ireland conflict very early on . Both joined the Fianna Éireann and actively participated in a group initially independent of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in attacks on British and loyalist troops before they were recruited by the IRA.
In 1976 he, his brother Benedict and various other members of the IRA were injured in the premature detonation of an explosive device carried near Ballymena , with McElwee losing his right eye.
As a result of this unsuccessful attack, McElwee and the others were arrested and held responsible for another bomb attack in Ballymena that same day in which a young Protestant woman died.
The sentence was ultimately life imprisonment, but was later reduced to a 20-year prison term.
During his detention, he first took the blanket protest in part and, later, from 7 June 1981 to the famous hunger strike of 1981 he died, as a result after 62 days without food at the age of only 23 years.
Individual evidence
- ↑ irishhungerstrike.com : Tom Mcelwee , accessed December 6, 2012
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | McElwee, Tom |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McElwee, Thomas; Mac Giolla Bhuidhe, Tomás; Mac Giolla Bhuí, Tomás; Mac Giolla Bhuídhe, Tomás |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Northern Irish resistance fighter and hunger striker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 30, 1957 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bellaghy , County Derry |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 8, 1981 |
| Place of death | Maze Prison |