Poppy Day / Remembrance

[Raels]

Many peple have mentioned the lack of NATIONAL MEDIA ATTENTION, with regard to Merchant Navy Day. Although there has been some very good coverage for regional events. As time goes on, there are vetrans that cannot make Tower Hill and struggle to attend more regional remembrances. Please, remember Merchant Navy Day.

IT MAY HELP TO REMIND IN ADVANCE YOUR DAILY NATIONAL PAPER OR A QUICK LETTER / E.MAIL TO THE NEWS MEDIA. A mention on TV News and in the press may help those that cannot attend to remember those "That Have Crossed The Bar" and to remind all others of a simple request " May All That Come After Us, Remember Us.

Winston Churchill said on 27 January 1942

'But for the Merchant Navy who bring us the food and munitions of war, Britain would be in a perilous state and indeed, without them, the Army, Navy and Air Force could not operate'

He spoke of the anonymous men who maintained our nation’s lifeline, they were officially non-combatants. They continued to serve under their peacetime shipping company employers for a pittance (£10 a month, plus a £5 danger bonus paid by the government) and, if they were torpedoed, the money stopped from the time their ship took its last dive to the ocean floor. Losses totalled 50,525 seamen, perhaps drowned in a flooding engine room or burnt in the fireball of an exploding tanker or ammunition ship. But there were those who faced a more protracted end: numbed into insensibility after days of clinging to a raft or boat in the stormy north Atlantic.

To be sunk in warmer waters didn’t necessarily guarantee survival. The Lulworth Hill went down in 90 seconds after being hit by the Italian submarine Leonardo da Vinci off the African coast. But her survivors’ ordeal on a raft lasted 50 days (their diet stretched to little more than 2oz of pemmican (preserved meat), eight Horlicks tablets and a little chocolate) until they were picked up by a destroyer, which used its machine guns to ward off expectant sharks.

On September 3rd 1939, a few hours after war had been declared against Germany, the first shipping casualty occurred with the sinking of the Donaldson Line passenger ship, Athenia, and the loss of 112 passengers and crew. For almost six years there was barely a day went by without the loss of merchant ships and their crews.

The gratitude owed to these men is finally being recognized with the introduction of the official 'Merchant Navy Day', designated the 3rd of September every year, the first one was held in September 2000. Please ensure that all are aware and remember Merchant Navy Day. If you can influence reporters to report, if you work within the media, please help to remember those that helped to save us all.

Remember, remember 3rd SEPTEMBER.

LEST WE FORGET.

[Administrator]

Remembrance Day concert and ceremonies.

BY LEO McMAHON

In this, the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, a Remembrance Day concert is being held at City Hall, Cork this Saturday, November 8. On Sunday, the annual ceremony at the newly refurbished Cenotaph in South Mall, Cork will take place and there will also be a commemoration in Bandon.

The concert is being billed as a night of nostalgia in memory of the estimated 2,600 Cork men who died in the 1914-1918 War. Patrons are invited to attend the concert in period costume.
Special guest will be renowned London based singer Lee Gibson who will perform special arrangements of classic war songs including ‘Roses of Picardy’, ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ and ‘Harvest Moon’

Other participating acts will be Barrack Street Brass and Reed Band, pipers and trumpeters from the Defence Forces, Anna Grace who will recite poetry of the era and the Carrigaline based Polyphonics Barber Shop Choir.

Compere for the evening will be Michael Twomey who will conduct proceedings in the style of Leonard Sachs of ‘The Good Old Days’ TV variety programme. Proceeds will go to the military organisations’ benevolent funds.

Lord Mayor Brian Bermingham said he hoped the concert would mark how the Republic honours all those who fought and died in World War I. “I was acutely aware on my election to office that my period as Lord Mayor would contain some very important anniversaries in the history of the city and country and I felt it particularly important to mark the sacrifice of our war dead on this the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.”

The concert is being organised by the Lord Mayor’s Concert and Remembrance Committee under the stewardship of retired Army Captain Bob Seward with the support of Cork Lions Club. Tickets are still available at Pro Musica, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork.

This Sunday, November 9, the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies take place. In Cork City, there will be prayers and wreath laying at St. Finbarre’s Cathedral at 10.45am and Mass in Ss. Peter and Paul Church off St. Patrick. This will be followed by a parade from the church off St. Patrick Street and along the Grand Parade to the Cenotaph at South Mall.

Organiser of the ceremonies, the Cork branch of the British Legion, has, with the financial support of Cork City Council, restored the Cenotaph which forms part of the Cork city centre refurbishment and boardwalk projects. Names of those who died in World War I have been freshly inscribed on the memorial and the sculptor was John Sheedy, Midleton. John Whittaker and Eddie Connolly are among the committee members and everyone is welcome to attend the ceremonies.

Formal re-dedication of the monument is expected to take place next spring when the river boardwalk project is completed and a Book of Honour for all Cork people who served and died in World War I will be officially launched.

There will also be Remembrance Day ceremonies in Bandon at the memorial in the grounds of the Cork County Council offices, Station Road, organized by Bandon War Memorial Committee at 3pm. On Monday, November 10, the committee in association with the Gramophone Circle is presenting A Night of World War I Music’ at the Gateway, St. Finbarr’s Place and on Tuesday, November 11, Mass will be offered at St. Patrick’s Church for all who fought in the two World Wars and in service with the United Nations.

[A READER]

The launch of the City and County of Cork Book of Honour
The launch of the City and County of Cork Book of Honour Project honouring the thousands of Irishmen who died in the First World War (1914-1918) was performed by Lord Mayor Brian Bermingham at a function in City Hall, Cork recently at which a special guest was the driving force behind what is part of a national initiative, former Dail Deputy Paddy Harte.

Supported by Cork City and County Vocational Education Committees, Ted Owens, executive of the former stressed that it was an educational project that “did not seek to glorify war nor to re-write history and nor was it to even justify the actions of the man who donned a British uniform to fight n the Great War but rather to help us understand why so many went, to recognise their sacrifice and to honour them by ensuring that they are remembered”.

The fact that the project was being launched in the City Hall, a building set on fire by the Black and Tans and British Military in the burning of Cork on the night of December 11-12, 1920, was a sign of growing maturity and confidence as a nation, said Ted.
Donegal based Paddy Harte, said the decade 1913 to 1923 was a very complex one in which there were families in which some fought with the British Army in the trenches of Flanders and others took up arms in the War of Independence in Ireland.

While the names Kevin O’Higgins, Eamonn Ceant were rightly remembered in history, those of their brothers, both named Michael, who died at Arras in World War I were all but forgotten.
As a result of visiting war graves in 1996 and seeing thousands of Irish names there, he was inspired, despite being told it was politically unwise, to campaign for Irish men who fought and died to be properly honoured and remembered through the establishment of a Peace Park of Ireland at Messines near Ieper (Ypres) and the county by county Book of Honour campaign.

Such a process, which was ongoing, had revealed the names of many previously unrecorded Irish people who fought in World War I and served to bring together in a spirit of healing, generations of Irish people from different religious and political backgrounds.

Congratulating all involved in the Cork project, Paddy Harte predicted: “you will have a Book of Honour that really is honourable” and extended an invitation to Cork bands to participate in the Armistice Day commemoration at the Peace Park in November in this the 90th anniversary year of the end of World War I.

Launching the project, Lord Mayor Brian Bermingham said “history belongs to education” and during his term of office, he was on “a journey of remembrance” which had begun with the rededication of a monument in Fitzgerald Park and attending an exhibition in the museum there marking 50 years of peace keeping by the Irish Defence Forces with the United Nations. A statue of Irish freedom fighter Tom Barry, who also served in the British Army, was also due to be unveiled in the park this autumn and there would also be a Remembrance concert in City Hall.

The Lord Mayor said the fact that the refurbished National Monument at Grand Parade and the Cenotaph at South Mall were so close to each other, symbolised unity and he hoped to visit the Peace Park in Messines in November.

“In 1914, the Irish Volunteer Organisation split on the question of whether Ireland had obligations and responsibilities to contribute to the war against Germany. The overwhelming majority believed that they did and enlisted en masse in the British Army. Thereafter, they focused on doing their job and staying alive but the odds were stacked against them.

In the war of attrition which followed, over 2,500 Cork men perished, thousands of others received horrible injuries and many who survived, returned home suffering from post traumatic stress disorder except that these soldiers were just considered a bit odd and their families were left unsupported to deal with the consequences.

“Those who gave their lives ‘for the glory of God and the honour of Ireland’ – and we know this is true because it is written on countless memorials scattered across the battlefields – and those Irish Volunteers who went to war in Easter 1916, did so for exactly the same reasons. We also know this to be true because the slogan was emblazoned on the wall outside the Volunteer Hall at Sheare’s Street in the city”.

Both groups, the Lord Mayor continued, genuinely believed what they were doing was right, both followed the advice of their political leaders, both wanted to make Ireland and the world a better and safer place in which to live, both made an enormous sacrifice and both left families behind who had no option than to pick up the pieces and try to get on with life.

“For all these reasons, it is important and appropriate that we recognise and remember all those who gave their lives and I am delighted to be here on the next stage of my ‘journey of remembrance’ as we launch this unique project, The Cork City and County Book of Honour, which will identify and record the names and details of those brave Cork men who lost their lives in the First World War.

“I have absolutely no doubt that we owe a huge debt to those Corkmen who died in the First World War and to the families they left behind. By publishing this book, we will finally have made an effort to repay that debt and I wish the project every success”, added Mr. Bermingham who paid tribute to the VECs, co editors Gerry White and Brendan O’Shea, the committee, patrons, the Royal British Legion, the religious bodies and he specially welcomed Paddy Harte and his wife Rosaleen.

Brendan O’Shea said great credit was due to Paddy Harte - who wrote to all VECs in Ireland - for his inspiration and the VECs for their support of the project. He also thanked the patrons, fellow committee members and others in what was a team effort. He stressed that the project had no political agenda but rather an educational one and it was planned to have the book completed and ready for launching next March.

Master of ceremonies was Gerry White who also touched upon the complexity of the situation in Ireland from 1913 to 1923 and put into human perspective as it affected city and county families.
“The First World War ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. That same day, Sgt, William Looney of the Royal Artillery, who was originally from 143, Bandon Road, Cork , died from pneumonia in a military hospital in France. He was one of five brothers who fought in the war and one of five Corkmen who died on the last day of conflict.

Sixteen years old Richard Swanton, son of Robert and Margaret Swanton from Ballydehob died in battle on October 3, 1918 while serving as a private with the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment.

“The loss suffered by the Looney and Swanton families are just two examples of that suffered by so many Cork families between August 1914 and November 1918. In 1922, the Irish National War Memorial Committee published ‘Ireland’s Memorial Records’, eight books with the names of over 49,000 Irishmen who died while serving with the British and Dominion forces in the war. Of these names, 2,195 are listed as being born in Cork city or county.

“While today, that number may be considered to be just a statistic,” said Gerry, “it is important to remember that each name represents an individual family tragedy, a father, son or brother who never came home” and especially those soldiers with no grave and listed on the Menin Gate in Ieper for whom grieving families never got full closure.

Not included in the records were the names of civilians from Cork who lost their lives in the sinking of ships such as the Lusitiania, the Leinster and City of Cork Steampacket Company boats, those who served in the US Army and those ‘shot at dawn’, all casualties of war and equally deserving of recognition. Those involved with the Book of Honour aimed to acknowledge the sacrifice made by all such people who lost their lives in the First World War, said Gerry who also mentioned the brave role played by Cork clergy including Capuchin Fr. Dominic who at different times was a chaplain in the war at Salonika and to Cork’s patriot Lord Mayors Tomas MacCurtain and Tomas MacSwiney.

The attendance included Lady Mayoress Elma Bermingham, Rosaleen Harte, John Whittaker, chairman of the Cork branch of the Royal British Legion; Hannah Page, Deputy Mayor of Cork County and chairman of Cork Co. VEC, Noel O’Connor; Billy MacGill and some of the patrons and committee members.

The patrons are Martin Riordan, county manager; former Mayor of Cork County, Tom Sheahan; Ruth Flanagan, county librarian; Joe Gavin, city manager; Liam Ronayne, city librarian; Rt. Rev. Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross; Most Rev. John Buckley, Bishop of Cork and Ross; Fred Rosehill, Ovens, Cork Jewish Community; Pastor Eddie Dorney, Baptist Church; Wesley Campbell, Bandon, Methodist Community; Rev. John Farris, Rochestown, Presbyterian Church; Dr. Michael Murphy, president of UCC; Prof. Dermot Keogh and Dr. Geoff Roberts, History Dept, UCC; Dr. Brendan Murphy, president of CIT; former Deputy and Minister Peter Barry and Alan Crosbie, TCH Holdings.

Committee members are Billy Good, (member of Bandon War Memorial Committee) Jean Prendergast, Paudie McGrath, Eugene Power and Tom O’Neill, Midleton; Donal Vaughan, Glanmire (Collins Barracks Museum); Sean Murphy, Billy Murphy, Gerry White, Brendan O’Shea, Diarmuid O’Donovan, John Dolan, Frank Nash and Mark Cronin. Project secretaries Eileen Stoap and Maire O’Brien.

* Co-editors of the ‘City and County Book of Honour – The Great War 1914-1918’. Gerry White, who grew up in Kippagh, Dunmanway and Brendan O’Shea are co-authors of a ‘Baptised in Blood – the founding of the Cork Brigade of the Irish Volunteers 1913-1916’; ‘The Irish Volunteer Soldier 1913-1923; an ‘The Burning of Cork’.
BY LEO McMAHON