Remembrance NI
Every day is a Remembrance Day
February 25 – Roll of Honour
The WW1 entries today are a reminder that men from NI served in a number of regiments such as the Royal Scots and the North Staffordshire Regiment which have no obvious links with the region. WW2 entries are dominated by the loss of HMS Mahratta. Today’s veteran, Wilson Ervin, a former FAA Petty Officer, made one of the most outstanding contributions to post-war civic society. Photo – Essex Farm Cemetery. Read More
February 24 – Roll of Honour
Edward Dalton, one of the pioneers of civil aviation in Ireland served with the RFC and William Boal DCM served with the army in WW1. Both died in service with the Fleet Air Arm in WW2. Both WW1 Veterans remembered today are from Portstewart. One served as a naval gunner, the other was with Canadian forces. Photo – Fossvogur Cemetery, Iceland.
February 23 – Roll of Honour
Sergt R McClements of Belfast – left of photo – was a member of a bomber crew that completed 38 operations between July 1944 and Feb 1945. The majority of entries today are of NI men who died in RAF bombers. When he was killed Flight Lieutenant Doherty of Newtownards had taken part on 65 Missions which is more than two tours. In 1944 Trevor Boyd of Greenisland and David Nelson of Larne were lost in the same plane over Burma.
February 22 – Roll of Honour
This is the anniversary of eight from NI who fell in the World Wars. Today’s veteran was the most high-ranking Irish chaplain in WW1. Rev Dr. James G Paton ministered in Coleraine. He was a member of the committee responsible for the erection of the town’s War Memorial and Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1931. Photo – De Panne Communal Cemetery where many men from Operation Dynamo are buried. Read More
February 21 – Roll of Honour
Australian soldiers at Eaucourt L’Abbaye on the Somme, February 1917. The soldier on the right has donned sandbags in an attempt to combat the mud and damp. Image courtesy Australian War Memorial.
A son of a Belfast veteran recalled today became Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. Read More
February 20 – Roll of Honour
Amongst those remembered today from WW2 are crew members of HMS Warwick from Londonderry, Armagh and Belfast, and a Battle of Brittain pilot from Islandmagee. Veterans include North Irish Horse and an RN Surgeon Probationer from WW1 who also served with RAMC in WW2. Photo of Australian National War Memorial, Canberra. Read More
February 19 – Roll of Honour
A stick of paratroopers jumping at Ringway, 1945. William McGrath was the first of two Coleraine brothers to die in WW2. A Captain in the Royal Engineers and former student of CAI his war grave is in Tobruk, Lybia. 24-year-old Flight Lieutenant John Bright from Templepatrick was twice Mentioned in Despatches before his death in 1943. He is named on 502 (Ulster) Squadron WM, in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. A note for 1915 shows the impact war was having on Queen’s University.
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