Peter, your question made me look up a Tommy Sands site. Here's a little information from that site on 'There were roses':
During the next few years, at home and away, everything was to change for the Sands family. Tommy recalls one incident from 1974 in his classic song "There Were Roses." A Protestant friend of his was killed in an act of senseless violence. When the local Protestants looked for a Catholic to kill in retaliation, they ironically chose a man who had been good friends with the original victim--and with Tommy Sands. "It took me almost ten years to write the song, because I saw more than just the events. It summed up war, how people can be put into little boxes and told they're different. It still happens. You know, George Bush says, 'We have nothing against the Iraqui people, it's Saddam.' Some weeks later, a hundred thousand Iraqui people are dead, and Saddam's still there. I wonder what the victory is."
So it seems to be a song on a real incident which does not mean, however, that the names are real. In case you want to read more, here's where I found it:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~swinick/Sands.html (a reprint from SING OUT) .

Wolfgang