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Remembrance in Ireland
Posted on November 9th, 2008 10 commentsThere are no McDevitt’s on Menin Gate (Belgium) but there are thousands of other Irish names amongst the 58,000 for whom there is no grave. The Irish Peace tower stands on a hill over the final battleground where the 16th and 36th divisions pushed the German lines back in June 1917. There are some wonderful inscriptions as you walk in. They say different things but have a single message best summed up in the words of Tom Kettle:
To dice with death, and, oh! They’ll give you rhyme
And reason; one will call the thing sublime,
And one decry it in a knowing tone.
So here, while the mad guns curse overhead,
And tired men sigh, with mud for couch and floor,
Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead,
Died not for Flag, nor King, nor Emporor,
But for a dream born in a herdsman’s shed,
And for the Secret Scripture of the poor.The drive from Flanders (Belgium) to the Somme (France) takes you along the western front’s most famous sites. Arriving in the Somme valley, seeing the 74,000 names at Thiepval and acknowledging the epic achievements of the 36th Ulster Division, remembered at the Ulster Tower is thought provoking and utterly sobering. The blood sacrifice of the huge international army is everywhere. I counted 83 cemeteries along the was and forty seven nationalities.
Irishmen are everywhere. In the 16th Irish Division the fallen from ‘nationalist’ Ireland lie side by side with comrades from the UK, India, South Africa, Morrocco, France, Belgium, Canada and many more. Many of the states have since decided to erect their own memorials to the soldiers of the Great War. The finest is undoubtedly in Vimy where Canada built the most wonderful monument to its war dead. We arrived there from the living memorial that is the National South African monument at Devilles Wood. A wonderful circular building it makes no bones about South Africa’s own difficult history since the first world war. It’s a monument to everyone who went to war for the African state. From the Afrikaners in the Somme trenches to the ANC activists who fought for democracy, the building quite literally squares the circle and allows the modern republic to remember without undermining itself in any way.
The South African visit was a welcome boost after our pilgrimage to the only monument to the 16th Irish Division in the Somme. Nestled in the church grounds in Guilemont is a celtic cross. Do cum gloire Dé agus onora na hEireann (for the glory of god and the honour of Ireland) is the epitaph to the thousands who fell between the 3rd and 9th of September 1916 on the green fields of France. It is in stark contrast to the Ulster tower built within two years of the establishment of Northern Ireland and opened by the embodiment of the new jurisdiction, Edward Carson. They were quick to remember, it seems the ‘Free State’ was in a hurry to forget.
The flags of so many nations still fly today in France and Belgium. Some are still in the commonwealth although many are not. The empire is gone, Europe is at peace and still the flag that is missing is that of Ireland. Nowhere is the Republic of Ireland remembering its dead as a sovereign and independent state. The peace tower at Messine is wonderful and a fitting tribute to the first battle in which the two traditions fought side by side but it is ultimately a monument to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. It is surely time the Republic of Ireland, free, confident and proud take its place amongst the modern states to honour its sons who went to war for Ireland and who made the ultimate sacrifice.
In March along with a group of friends I went paid my respects to young Willie McBride. He lies on the banks of the river Aucre in Authille Cemetery alongside Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindis and a lone German soldier. Immortalised in song but forgotten by the modern republic that was to share his island.
From an Irish point of view the words on this Remembrance Sunday are surely – We must remember them.
10 responses to “Remembrance in Ireland”
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[...] years on and RTE are making an effort to remember. I posted my personal views on the need for Ireland to do more in this regard on [...]
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No mention of the fact that those Irishmen were fighting in a war over who would crush and exploit the peoples of Africa and Asia? Is that really something we should remember with pride? I think we should remember them with shame – as fools who threw their lives a way for a system of exploitation, supported as that system was by John Redmond and his party.
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Garibaldy.
Your view and you are entitled to it. I cannot say I hear too many modern Irish voices that would agree with you though.
The reason my ancestors were not there is because they saw that period as Ireland’s opportunity and fought here at home for that. I am deeply proud of them but believe the time has long past when we should recognise those who answered another call.
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This has little to do with Ireland, but about the nature of the war itself. In the rush to commemorate, and be inclusive, we are forgetting the real nature of the war, and the real victims. Note I have not made the argument that they were traitors or whatever. What I have said is that they fought for an imperialist power in a war for imperial dominance. Why is that worth recognising? It was not an honourable action. And it was a decision to go without conscription, nor had Ireland been invaded, unlike France and Belgium.
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Garibaldy
I think you comments sum up the great tragedy of WWI. Thnaks for taking the time to share them.
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Fearghal O Boyle November 13th, 2008 at 15:22
Conal – Just got back from Belgium last night – good piece on your blog and it brought back some good memories of last February.
Garibaldi – I just want to say that my take on remembrance is that it is the men who died who I remember, and the huge slaughter for ‘a few miles of liquid mud’ that we should never forget. No one who has ever visited the western front in my company has ever found anything ‘glorifying’ imperialism. Contrary to what you have asserted, most of the Irishmen who I have researched did join the war for very honourable reasosns, either to achieve home rule for their own country, or to prevent home rule in their own country and I believe their actions were informed by idealism and patriotism and were therefore entirely honourable. As you can’t put yourself in their shoes, why not give them the benefit of the doubt rather than demeaning them as dishonourable imperialists? -
Henry Norman November 14th, 2008 at 14:07
I for one am delighted that people from the Irish republic don’t wear poppies because it would be an insult to all the brave men that give up their lives for the freedom of Europe. I think it is outrages that the Irish nation would even contemplate hold services for Remembrance day because the Irish contributed absolutely zilch to the liberation of Europe, its disgraceful these parasites are allowed to rip off post-war Europe for subsidies
Ireland even took the opportunity of the British preoccupation with fighting the Great War to stage an uprising in Dublin at Easter 1916. Most Irish opinion at that time – Catholic & Protestant – was horrified by this. Granted we did over-reacted, put the Republicans up-against-the-wall, and shot them. Irish public opinion then swung the other way and the scene was set for a bloody civil war, the outcome of which was Partition.
During the 1939-45 war – again, Irish Republicans took advantage of the British preoccupation with clobbering the Germans (this time in the shape of Hitler) to mount another rebellion to conclude “unfinished business” – i.e. getting the Brits out of Ireland altogether. Working on the highly questionable principle that “any enemy of my enemy is my friend”, they bought weapons from the Nazis, set off bombs in Coventry, and generally caused chaos whenever & wherever they could. Much to Winston Churchill’s disgust, De Velera’s Free State remained neutral throughout.
The “Loyalists” concluded from all of this that the Irish Catholics – North & South – were treacherous, disloyal, not to be trusted. The scene was then set for the Troubles that erupted in the late 1960s, with both communities holding such overwhelmingly negative views of each other that only a spark was needed to kick-off inter-communal violence. The Civil Rights Movement provided that spark.
On a personal matter my family and I on a visit to Ireland have seen memorials obscenely defaced. I was personally assaulted, thumped and kicked in Dublin for wearing a poppy. My uncle (on his way in WW2 to join the RN and the fight against the Nazis) saw German U-boat sailors enjoying free time in the town of Cork, while it was closed to the British convoy escorts. The Irish government may, finally, have turned its coat to defend the cause of freedom – but in 1939 – 45 it was on the other side. Shame on the Irish for this and considering all that Britain have done for Ireland.
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i am glad to see the republic of ireland remembering those who paid the supreme sacrifice on the battle fields.yes,there were those who stayed at home and caused an uprising.but for those who put on a uniform,they must be remembered.we had the privilage late last year to visit the irish national war graves memorial garden.here we laid wreathes and held a short service of remembrance.something that everyone should never forget.when we saw the ages of some of the young soldiers on headstones in france and belgium it brought a lump to your throat.
lest we forget
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Last week I was on a short journey that covered some of the ground you’ve covered here. Really blew me away. I’m still trying to process it all in my head. http://bit.ly/85SYV
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Yes Henry Norman, the Irish should be very grateful for everything that the Brits did for them
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