A MEMORIAL service will be held tomorrow to mark the 40th anniversary of the Tullyvallen massacre in south Armagh.
Four Orange Order members were shot dead when IRA gunmen stormed into a lodge meeting on September 1, 1975.
A fifth man died later as a result of the injuries.
Survivors and relatives of those killed will tomorrow be joined by senior Orange Order members as they remember the victims at a commemoration service at the hall where the men were killed four decades ago.
The victims were father and son, James (73) and Ronnie McKee (40), Nevin McConnell (48), John Johnston (80) and William Herron (68).
Up to six others were injured in the IRA attack, which happened during a routine monthly lodge meeting.
The hall door burst open and two masked men appeared armed with machine guns, spraying the room with bullets while another gunman stood outside firing through a window.
Survivor Berry Reaney said he "didn't expect to get out alive".
"I remember the shooting stopping and all going quiet," he said.
"I lay there expecting to hear somebody walking along the floor and shots going off to finish us off, but thankfully nothing happened.
"Eventually we started to move and look up, and we realised we were on our own with bodies lying everywhere."
He suffered a broken arm after being struck by a bullet and still bears emotional scars of the atrocity.
"The memories never really go away - there is always something which keeps bringing it back to the forefront," he said.
"Every time you go to the hall you go through it."
Edward Stevenson, Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, said the "horror and barbarity" of the atrocity was "truly unimaginable".
"Five innocent men went to their monthly lodge meeting and never returned home," he said.
"Their only crime was to be in ownership of an Orange collarette.
"Their uprightness and decency stands in stark contrast to the vile and wicked mindset of those responsible for this premeditated and sickening attack."
The memorial service will be held at Tullyvallen Orange hall at 8.00pm.
A garden of rememberance will also be dedicated in memory of the victims at Sloan's House in Loughgall later this month.
