|
 |
You are > Home > Bringing the brave into the fold
|
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Bringing the brave into the fold
Our political leaders talk a great deal about our place in Europe and the rest of the world, sadly our ancestors were aware of outside events long before they were.
The Wexford seamen sailed the world, but had never visited Carlow?
No matter what part of the world that was engulfed by war, brave Wexfordmen were there, from the Alamo to Vietnam, from Korea to Europe. One group, too long forgotten, have stepped into the limelight courtesy of a new book.
They called it the Great War. Europe was embroiled in conflict between 1914-'18 and millions of people perished, including 874 from Co. Wexford, however, it has taken until now for their contribution to be recognised.
A generation of Irishmen were airbrushed from the pages of history. It is an aspect of our past that we can never be proud of.
Fortunately, a new book, like a breath of fresh air, offers closure to families and recognition of brave men who went to war under the British flag in times that were distinctly different than today.
It is a sad reflection on our country that because of the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence, the subsequent Civil War, and the emergence of a new 26-county independent state, those who fought for 'the freedom of small nations' under the British flag were conveniently forgotten.
One aspect of their demeanour is beyond dispute they never reneged on their home place, their Wexford heritage or their Irishness.
The contemporary conditions in the nation could not have been forecast, and it was unfortunate that brave men with the best of intentions, too many in posthumous postscripts, found themselves 'on the wrong side' of history.
Tom Burnell and Margaret Gilbert have done a great service throughout the pages of this book, 'The Wexford War Dead.’
The 'Wexford War Dead' compliments a series, already Tipperary and Wicklow have printed lists of their war dead.
This is a story of the soldiers, officers, sailors, airmen and nursing sisters, who listed their next-of-kin as being from Wexford.
The men whose names are recorded in the book died in the service of the British Army, the Australian army, the New Zealand army, the American army, the Indian army, the Canadian army, the South African army, the Royal Navy or the British Mercantile Marine.
Some famous names are recorded in 'The Wexford War Dead'. Perhaps, the best known is Major Willie Redmond from Wexford town, brother of the Home Rule advocate John E. Redmond.
Major Charles Beatty of Borodale, Enniscorthy, brother of the well-known Admiral of the Fleet and a hero at the Battle of Jutland, died in May 1917 and there is even a photograph of him included.
Captain David Toole and Lieutenant Edward Toole, two of four sons serving in the army from the family of William and Magdalene Toole, Curracloe House, are listed and contemporary obituaries from local newspapers are also published.
John Esmonde of Ballynastragh House, Gorey, was a midshipman on the HMS Invincible, who was only 17 years old when she was sunk during the Battle of Jutland on May 31st 1916. Thomas Walker from Tykillen House is remembered, so too is Walter Westropp-Dawson of Charlesfort House, near Ferns.
However, the majority of the names are common, Allen, Barry, Berry, Boland, Bolger, Brien, Brennan, Cahill, Canavan, Campbell, Dempsey, Delaney, Doyle, Earle, Edwards, Ennis, Fitzpatrick, Furlong, Gannon , Gaul, Gaynor, Hanton, Healy, Jackman, James, Jones, Joyce, Kavanagh, Keane, Kearns, Keenan, Kehoe, Kelly, Kennedy, Kinsella, Kent, Leacy, Lawlor, Leary, Maguire, Maher, Malone, McDonald, Millar, Molloy, Murphy, Neill, Neville, Nolan, O'Brien, O'Callaghan, O'Keeffe, O'Leary, O'Shea, Peare, Pierce, Redmond, Regan, Reid, Roche, Rossiter, Scallan, Shannon, Sinnott, Smith, Thorpe, Tierney, Walsh, Whelan, White and Whitty, to name just a cross section of the names found in this fine publication.
The credibility of the book is enhanced immensely by the contribution of Kevin Myers, who is dealing with his pet subject here, and he writes the foreword.
"The only axe being ground in the pages which follow is that of the steel of truth, tempered as it has been for decades of falsehood and neglect about the Irish involvement in the Great War", he says in the opening sentence.
Myers reminds us that "Wexford was one of half a dozen southern Irish counties which after the war was to introduce an employment-ban on all ex-servicemen, even disqualifying their children from county educational scholarships."
This is a book of record. The names are real people, Wexford natives, Irishmen, who were used as cannon fodder in one of the bloodiest wars the world has ever experienced.
It is our great shame as a nation that we choose to forget them. Almost a century later and times have changed. Better late than never, at least, the names are on record and for many families the missing pieces have become part of the written history of Ireland.
Tom Burnell and his sister, Margaret Gilbert, who hails from the Monaseed area of North Wexford, have done a great public service, it is a powerful act of remembrance we have forgotten for too long!
This publication will never sell a million. However, it is a valuable record of names for researchers and a source of great comfort for families.
The next dignified move forward, and it is about time it has happened, is to produce a book on the Wexfordmen who gave their lives during the war of 1939-'45.
'The Wexford War Dead A History of the Casualties of the World Wars' by Tom Burnell and Margaret Gilbert, Foreword by Kevin Myers, 336 pages, illustrated, Nonsuch Publishing, 119 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2, Ireland, Paperback, retail price €20.
END OF THE YEAR COMMENTS
It is that time of year again when we reflect and say thanks to editor Tom, production and design colleague Stewart, and everybody who reads the column and look forward to the beginning of a New Year when, hopefully, more readers will come on board and the standards of the past will be maintained or surpassed.
This column has been part of your weekly ECHO for twenty-five years the contribution first fitted into print in May 1984. Nobody can say that the column is not a survivor!
There have been so many changes in that time. In my view, the most amazing is the fact that not only is this column read by everybody who buys their favourite newspaper, but through the World Wide Web it is read world-wide.
Anybody with Wexford blood in their ancestry can gain access to this column and, hopefully and occasionally, direct contact is beneficial in bringing all the strands of the past together.
So many times it has been suggested to me that looking forward is the best way, not looking back all the time, but at the end of a year when recession has inverted our standards of living, the natural progression of events have sent out a warning not to forget the past.
My good friend, Nicky Rossiter, told me on radio that reflecting on the past was great, provided we didn't live in it.
At the end of 2009, it appears that the standards of the past, financially and economically, have hauntingly revisited and we are left with few choices! Have we returned to 2006 standards or 2003 standards, I'm not really sure at this point in time!
IN OUR TIME turns the clock back. That is its brief. Wexford is such an historic county that we never fall short of something to write about and share with our loyal readers.
I want to wish everybody a HAPPY NEW YEAR and don't forget, correspondence to the column is always welcome.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
