Comments on: Remembering the Irish

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:42:22 +0000

I have visited the Somme five times, my Great Uncle, A Royal Scots Fusilier was killed there in 1918 and is buried in Dernancourt Cemetery. This year I visited Ypres where my Grandfather was gassed. I agree that there should be some sort of memorial by the Irish Government in recognition of the Irish who fought and died in the First World War, there were many of them and they truly are the forgotten heroes of a forgotten war, at least in Ireland it is.
Helen

By: Johnie

Johnie — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 15:06:21 +0000

Since moving to france I have visited many battlefield sites. I have always felt a certain connection with those who died, on all sides. Young men, most younger than myself (I’m 32), went to battle in a strange country and died far away from those back home, it must have be so lonely. Beside the house of my wife’s uncle’s house there are several German bunkers still remaining and the structures of the ones that didn’t take any hits are in excellent condition and still look a formidable shelter. Standing inside of one looking out to sea, I had brought along a recording of a battle with shells hitting nearby, I got a sence of vulnerabilty and fear, imagine what it was really like for the Germans.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 18:44:04 +0000

Thanks Niall i checked out that site art on canvas and bought the 69th picture from them.You should see the picture it is top class.Thanks for the link….

By: Niall

Niall — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 10:03:11 +0000

ARTONCANVAS.NET PRESENT ”The Fighting 69th” Gen Meagher and the Irish Brigade Fredericksburg, Virginia, december 2, 1862. By Mort Kunstler. 75 Patrons Edition Prints Signed and Numbered by the artist. This Limited Edition Print is printed on 100% rag, Neutral ph, heavy vellum custom made stock, using fade resistant inks. Fine Offset Lithography. Each print is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.See it at:
http://www.artoncanvas.net/gallery/index.php?category=31&page=1

By: Niall

Niall — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 20:35:55 +0000

Check out this website http://www.artoncanvas.net . They have â€˜â€™The Fighting 69th’â€™ Gen Meagher and the Irish Brigade Fredericksburg, Virginia, december 2, 1862. By Mort Kunstler. 75 Patrons Edition Prints Signed and Numbered by the artist.

By: John

John — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:43:45 +0000

Maybe, given what yesterday was all about, I should post another quote from Mein Kampf:

The mightiest counterpart to the Aryan is represented by the Jew.

By: John

John — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:28:44 +0000

Treasa, okay, it could be my understanding of your phrase “would never willingly lead people into war”. I guess I was saying that the men who led the allied armies in Europe and the Pacific did so willingly, although I’m sure not all of them did so eagerly.

That page is quite a sympathetic reading of how appeasement could be justified. The fact that it fails to mention Mein Kampf (and that too many people in France & Britain failed to read it too) indicates that the person who wrote those paragraphs believes nobody could have anticipated what Hitler would do.

Here’s one passage (and there are countless others that I could select):Finally a new and triumphant idea should burst every chain which tends to paralyse its efforts to push forward. National Socialism must claim the right to impose its principles on the whole German nation, without regard to what were hitherto the confines of federal states. And we must educate the German nation in our ideas and principles. As the Churches do not feel themselves bound or limited by political confines, so the National Socialist Idea cannot feel itself limited to the territories of the individual federal states that belong to our Fatherland.
The National Socialist doctrine is not handmaid to the political interests of the single federal states. One day it must become teacher to the whole German nation. It must determine the life of the whole people and shape that life anew. For this reason we must imperatively demand the right to overstep boundaries that have been traced by a political development which we repudiate.
The more completely our ideas triumph, the more liberty can we concede in particular affairs to our citizens at home.

By: Young Irelander

Young Irelander — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:26:42 +0000

I think it’s time that the efforts of the Irish people in those two wars were given proper recognition.
I would like to see the statue of Sean Russell that was recently damaged,to be torn down and replaced with a statue honouring Irish people who served in the British Army.
I would also like to see efforts made for Irish people to wear the poppy for the Remembrance ceremonies each year.
The ignorance that Irish governments have shown to these brave people was wrong and deserves to be corrected.

By: Treasa

Treasa — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 17:13:18 +0000

John
I am not sure that I agree. See this link: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/ww2/context.html and have a look at the comments about the application of appeasement/negotiation with the intention of avoiding another war. It’s probably more accurate to say that at the time, leaders wished to avoid war at all costs, but when they failed in that bid, they did their duty.

By: John

John — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:18:52 +0000

Although I’ve never been to any of the battlefields in Europe, I’ve been to quite a few in the US. Gettysburg was the best of those I’ve been too. I was there on a hot, hot day and it was easy to imagine the heat of the sun on July 1-3 1863, but not the slaughter that went on.

The US Civil War was a precursor to the slaughter in Europe 50 years later and explains some of America’s reluctance to enter that war. Machine guns, trenches and total war (Sherman especially) were all part of the Civil War.

Treasa, most of the military leaders at the time of WWII had first hand experience of the trenches of WWI. They weren’t put off leading men into war by that experience.

By: John

John — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:12:54 +0000

My grandfather and his brother bought fought in the first World War. Fortunately, they both survived. They were from County Clare, but fought with the US Army. My grandfather served m the NY 69th and his brother in the NY 111th. The Irish contributed a large number of the American forces in that war (as they did in the Civil War, which was two generations earlier).

My wife’s great grandfather fought and died in WWI. He was a member of Connolly’s Citizen Army, but he joined up with the British Army (he was “old” 35 or so when he joined). He had fought with the British in S. Africa as a young man. I think he was in the Dublin Fusiliers, but I’m not sure where he died. I know my brother-in-law found his grave in France a few years ago.

By: Ciarán

Ciarán — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 14:10:47 +0000

Gavin, I agree with all you said, though I could never have said it in a touching way. I too visited Ypres, strangely enough on the 12th of July 2003. Standing at the Menem Gate really brought home the immediacy of the Great War and, as Young Irelander said, the sadness that we’ve forgotten the part the Irish played in it for better or worse. Thanks for the post.

By: Gavin

Gavin — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:56:40 +0000

I was at that museum Treasa, its in Sanctuary Wood. I walked through some of the still maintained tunnels too.

By: Tom Raftery

Tom Raftery — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:17:40 +0000

Maybe that’s why George W is willingly sending his people into war - it is something he has never experienced firsthand.