A huge parade to commemorate the life of a UVF Miami Showband killer
Posted by Jim on July 27, 2025
THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH:
Hundreds expected at memorial parade for UVF man killed by own bomb in Miami Showband massacre.
Fifteen bands taking part in march for Harris Boyle in Portadown
Ciaran Barnes
Today at 02:22
A huge parade to commemorate the life of a UVF Miami Showband killer will take place in Portadown on Saturday.
Billed as the Harris Boyle 50th Anniversary Memorial parade, more than 400 people and 15 bands are expected to take part in the event, which will tour the Killicomaine estate.
Among those scheduled to march at the memorial is the Moygashel Sons of Ulster Flute Band, which regularly commemorates the life of fellow Miami Showband murderer Wesley Somerville.
Thirty bands marched through Moygashel in April in honour of the notorious paramilitary, who blew himself up along with accomplice Harris Boyle in July 1975.
Boyle and Somerville died in 1975 while attempting to plant a bomb on the Miami Showband tour bus.
The rest of their UVF gang then opened fire, murdering singer Fran O’Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy.
Bass player Stephen Travers and singer Des Lee were badly injured but remarkably survived.
The chart-topping band were targeted as they travelled from a gig in Banbridge to Newry.
Their minibus was stopped late at night on a rural road by UVF men posing as British Army soldiers.
The musicians were ordered to line up at the side of a verge while attempts were made to hide a bomb on their bus.
The intention was for it to explode a short time later and for the Miami Showband to be falsely accused of transporting a bomb for the IRA.
However, the device blew up prematurely as Somerville and Boyle were hiding it in the vehicle, killing both men instantly.
Miami Showband survivor Des Lee told Sunday Life last April that loyalists, even those who tried to kill him and had murdered his bandmates, have a right to commemorate their dead.
“I’m very careful about what I say. Even though I’m 79, I don’t like to get in arguments. People have a right to respect their dead, as far as I’m concerned. That’s how I look at it,” said the musician.
“I’ve very much for peace and reconciliation. It’s been 50 years. How long are we going to carry on like schoolkids?”
The Harris Boyle Memorial Parade will start at Levaghery Orange Hall at 6pm on August 2. The outward route from the Gilford Road will begin two hours later.
According to the Parades Commission website, 15 bands have registered their attendance, although “other bands may turn up on the night”.
As well as being a senior UVF figure Harris Boyle, who was from the Killicomaine estate in Portadown, was also in the UDR.
He was a suspect in the UVF 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombs that killed 26 civilians and was involved in the notorious loyalist Glenanne gang which was responsible for dozens of sectarian murders.