Kevin Coen was a volunteer

Volunteer (Irish republican)

Volunteer, often abbreviated Vol., is a term used by a number of Irish republican paramilitary organisations to describe their members. Among these have been the various forms of the Irish Republican Army and the Irish National Liberation Army...

 in the Sligo

Sligo

Sligo is the county town of County Sligo in Ireland. The town is a borough and has a charter and a town mayor. It is sometimes referred to as a city, and sometimes as a town, and is the second largest urban area in Connacht...

 Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 (IRA) who was killed in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 by a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 soldier

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

.

Background

Coen was born and grew up in Rusheen, Riverstown

Riverstown

Riverstown, historically called Ballyederdaowen , is a village in County Sligo, Ireland. It is located at a bridging point of the River Unshin , about 19 km south of Sligo town and 4 km east of the N4....

, South County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. He enjoyed Irish culture and music.

Paramilitary activity

Coen joined the IRA and served with the Sligo Brigade and was a member of the Southern Command

Southern Command

Southern Command can refer to a number of military commands:*Southern Command *Southern Command *Southern Command *Southern Command *United States Southern Command*Southern Command ...

. In 1971, Coen was imprisoned in Mountjoy Prison

Mountjoy Prison

Mountjoy Prison , founded as Mountjoy Gaol, nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security prison located in Phibsboro in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. It has the largest prison population in Ireland.The current prison governor is Mr...

, Dublin where he was jailed with fellow republican

Irish Republicanism

Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 Dan Hoban.

At the age of 28, Coen was killed by a British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 soldier while on active service

Active Service Unit

An active service unit was a Provisional Irish Republican Army cell of five to eight members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002 the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units....

 at Cassidy's Cross near Kinawley

Kinawley

Kinawley or Kinawly is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 75 people. Kinawley is also the name of the parish in which the village lies...

, County Fermanagh

County Fermanagh

Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 close to the Cavan

Cavan

Cavan is the county town of County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The town lies in the north central part of Ireland, near the border with Northern Ireland...

/Fermanagh border on 20 January 1975. The CAIN Sutton Index lists him as being shot during an attempted bus hijacking. However, republican sources state he was shot on the main Swanlinbar

Swanlinbar

Swanlinbar is a small village on the N87 national secondary road in north-west County Cavan, Ireland, close to the Cladagh river and near the Fermanagh border.The village is in the barony of Tullyhaw....

-Enniskillen

Enniskillen

Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...

 road by undercover British troops in an unmarked civilian car, who opened fire at an IRA checkpoint.

Coen was the first volunteer from the Southern Command to be killed on active service since Tony Ahern died in May 1973.

Memorial

Leitrim

County Leitrim

County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...

 Republican, John Joe McGirl

John Joe McGirl

John Joe McGirl was an Irish republican, an elected TD and a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army.Born and raised in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, McGirl became involved with the IRA in the 1930s...

, gave the oration at his graveside in Sooey

Sooey

Sooey is a village in County Sligo, Ireland.The village is situated near Riverstown, on the R284 road which runs between Sligo and Leitrim village in County Leitrim.It is the burial place of Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer, Kevin Coen....

, County Sligo. At the graveside of Coen, McGirl stated;

The East Sligo Cumann of Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 is named the Coen/Savage Cumann and the Sligo Cumann of Republican Sinn Féin

Republican Sinn Féin

Republican Sinn Féin or RSF is an unregisteredAlthough an active movement, RSF is not registered as a political party in either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. minor political party operating in Ireland. It emerged in 1986 as a result of a split in Sinn Féin...

 is named the The Noble Six/Kevin Coen Cumann in honour of Coen and they both hold an annual commemoration at his graveside.

There is an annual lecture given in his name which has been addressed by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin is a Sinn Féin politician from Ireland. He has been a Teachta Dála for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency since 1997 and was the parliamentary leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann from 1997–2011.-Biography:Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was born in Monaghan in 1953. He was educated at St....

, Pat Doherty

Pat Doherty

Patrick "Pat" Doherty is an Irish republican politician and abstentionist Member of Parliament for West Tyrone. He has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the same constituency since 25 June 1998...

, Pearse Doherty

Pearse Doherty

Pearse Doherty is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He serves as a Teachta Dála for the Donegal South West constituency and as Sinn Féin's Dáil spokesperson on Finance. Doherty formerly served on Donegal County Council from 2004–07 and in Seanad Éireann from 2007–10.-Background and education:Doherty...

, Aengus O Snodaigh

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Aengus Ó Snodaigh is an Irish Sinn Féin politician. He has been a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South Central constituency since May 2002, and is party spokesperson for Housing, Justice, Equality and Human Rights, and International Affairs.-Early and private life:A Dubliner and Irish language...

 and Gerry Adams

Gerry Adams

Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...

in recent years.