Remembering Gerald McDade
The Irish Revolutionary was shot dead by the crown forces on December 21st 1971.
Gerald McDade was born in Ardoyne and was married. He had been active in the local IRA Unit since the 1969 Pogroms in and around his native Ardoyne.
McDaid was on the run and hunted by the British Crown Forces since the re-introduction of Internment in August 1971.
A few days before Christmas 1971, Gerard had just left a friend's house he had been visiting in Oakfield Street. He was captured by a British Army patrol and was amongst a group of men who were asked to line up while their identities were checked. Whilst attempting to make a break for it he was gunned down with no warning. He died shortly afterwards.
The Republican News of January 9th 1972 acknowledged that Gerald McDade was a staff captain in the Provisional IRA, 3rd. Battalion, Belfast Brigade.
McDaid was buried with full military honours. At his funeral, three volunteers fired shots over the coffin when the cortège reached the junction of the Whiterock and Falls Roads on its way to Milltown Cemetery.
