I closed my eyes and let the names being read out take me back to the days of my youth. Trouble-free - and trouble-filled.
Care-free days when fear was unknown and fear-filled days where life and limb was at risk and often with tragic consequences.
Names of IRA activists from the Short Strand and Ballymacarret who lost lose their lives in this phase of the freedom struggle, in the 1970s.
The fallen of 'B' Company, 3rd Battalion, Belfast Brigade: teenagers and young men; some married with children; some never got the chance to experience that life giving gift.
Some I knew very well. Others less so or not at all.
All brave. All sons with mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.
Gerard 'Dinger' Bell - his love of life expressed in his firm hand-shake, his loud and hearty laugh and broad, teeth-filled, smile.
Gerard Steele - with his quiet and gentle ways.
Rab Dorrian, married to Betty, with three children. Before Rab died the family were already burden by a huge loss. Their three-year-old son, Jim, was killed by a British Army vehicle, close to his home.
Joe Magee, married to Mina, with three children. The family's acute loss compounded when Mina's brother Francis - a father - died, some years later, with two other IRA activists, Joey Surgeoner, the silent man from the Strand, and Paul Marlow - a father, 'the secret man' - from another part of Belfast.
The generational change that is so much a part of republican politics was obvious among the relatives of the patriot dead. Young nephews, nieces and grandchildren now proudly carry the photos of their IRA relatives - in the place of ageing or departed parents and older brothers and sisters
Joey Fitsimmons, with his impish smile, sandy coloured hair; an accordion on his lap, singing rebel songs. Arm-in-arm, with his girlfriend Geraldine McMahon, teenage lovers, walking through the district. Their short romance ended in the premature explosion in Anderson's Street catastrophically killing eight people, four civilians, and four IRA personnel.
Jackie Mc Elhone, his long flowing hair, red checked shirt and wrangler jeans and jacket and his dander.
Eddie McDonnell, a microphone in his hand with the sweetest rendition of Mary from Dungloe I have ever heard.
Martin Engelen, the districts' OC, with his ever-present bunch of keys and endless supply of cars, in the service of the Republic.
Civilians, Mary Clark, a mother of three; Henry Crawford, a father, and John Nugent, also a father, died in the small two-up two-down in Anderson Street.
Thomas O Donnell, a father of eight children died from injuries in a car crash on an IRA mission.
Frederick Leonard assassinated by loyalists with a work colleague, civilian Patrick Jago; a fate suffered by many from our district.
Jackie Mc Mahon, last seen alive, arrested by the RUC. His body uncovered from the River Lagan.
On Easter Saturday I watched the relatives of those who died in those heroic and tragic years lay flowers at the Garden of Remembrance, An Tine Beo, lovingly built by republicans, in the heart of the district that has had its heart broken many, many times for freedom.
But yet its resilience clear, in those who gathered to pay homage: relatives and community.
The National Graves - NGA - is the custodian of the heroism, sacrifice and history of generations of republicans who fought for freedom.
It is a remarkable and giving organisation, none more so than the Belfast branch, who organise Belfast's annual commemoration and maintain the graves of those who died and add memorials to the republican pantheon.
Its chairperson is the redoubtable Joe Austin whose team is dedicated and knows the importance of and relationship between those being remembered, their relatives and the bond between them and the freedom struggle.
Last month a special memorial was unveiled to those who lost their lives in Milltown at the funerals of the Gibraltar Three.
This bond was very much on display at a special annual presentation in Belfast's Culturlann on Easter Sunday.
The generational change that is so much a part of republican politics was obvious among the relatives of the patriot dead. Young nephews, nieces and grandchildren now proudly carry the photos of their IRA relatives - in the place of ageing or departed parents and older brothers and sisters.
The NGA presented each family with a badge of honour with the inscription, 'Óglaigh na hÉireann, Briogáid Bhéal Feirste'.
Michelle Ó Neill, told those gathered: "We are not apologetic. We are proud of our history; proud of our freedom fighters."
And we have much to be proud of.
