On the 2nd sept 1942, nineteen year old Thomas J Williams, Captain of C Company, Belfast Brigade was executed in the Crumlin Road Jail.
Following an Easter Sunday parade, Tom Williams led a six man unit of local Volunteers in a diversionary attack on the RUC.
The aim was to draw the RUC into the Clonard area in order that a Republican Commemoration could take place elsewhere in the city.
Having fired some shots over an RUC police van, the unit then made its way to a safe house, unaware that it had been under surveillance.
Soon, the house was surrounded and, as the police attempted to force an entrance into the house, an RUC officer was shot dead and Tom Williams was wounded three times.
While in hospital, Tom, as OC, claimed full responsibility for the RUC officers death.
Tom was sentenced to death along with his five comrades. The five volunteers sentenced with Tom were later reprieved.
Tom Williams, however, was to be executed in order to appease a very disgruntled RUC out for revenge.
Five out of the six IRA men receiving a reprieve was a blow they sorely felt.
Tom's final words to the Republican movement were to prove to be an inspiration for generations of Irish people the world over.
"Carry on, no matter what odds are against you; Carry on , no matter what the enemy call you; Carry on no matter what torments are inflicted on you. The road to freedom is paved with suffering, hardship and torture; Carry on my gallant comrades, until that certain day".
After Tom was murdered, his body was placed in a makeshift coffin which was carried by four prison officers and lowered into an unmarked grave near the jail's hospital. ''T.W.'' was later scratched on the wall.
On Wedensday, 19th January 2000, after a campaign by Republicans for over half a century, Tom Williams' remains were reinterred from his unmarked grave inside Belfast Prison to finally be buried in the family plot, Milltown cemetery
After Fifty Seven years Tom Williams is finally free
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