On Saturday 22 April Archie Heron was one of three men ordered to bring at least 150 Volunteers from Belfast to Dungannon and proceed to Coalisland where they were to meet up with the Tyrone Volunteers. They split into smaller groups of fifty and took different trains throughout the day before spending the night in Coalisland.
The next morning they received word of Eoin MacNeill’s countermanding order. As a result the men were ordered to return to Belfast and demobilise. They reached Belfast on Sunday afternoon and promptly disbanded.
Archie Heron was a member of the IRB and prior to the Easter Rising he was appointed as an Officer to the Belfast Brigade, Irish Volunteers.
Archie Heron was interviewed for the radio series 'The Week of the Rising' broadcast on Radio Éireann, 10 April 1966. Photograph of Great Victoria Street Train Station, Belfast courtesy of RTÉ Archives.