Billy Hanna

Who was Billy Hanna?

William Henry Wilson "Billy" Hanna MM was a high-ranking Ulster loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over command of the brigade.

Hanna had been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry while serving with the British Army's Royal Ulster Rifles in the Korean War. He then joined the Territorial Army and later the Ulster Special Constabulary. When the latter was disbanded in 1970, he joined the newly formed Ulster Defence Regiment, a locally recruited infantry regiment of the British Army, as a part-time member. He held the rank of sergeant in C Company, 11th Battalion UDR and served as a permanent staff instructor.

According to Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Patrol Group officer John Weir, Hanna was a leader of one of the two UVF units that planned and carried out the Dublin car bombings on 17 May 1974, which killed 26 people. Former British soldier and psychological warfare operative Colin Wallace suggested that Hanna had been the principal organiser of the Dublin attacks.