Today in 1916, in the final act of the First Battle of the Somme, after two days of hard fighting at the Battle of Ancre, Lt Col Freyberg of the Royal Naval Division was awarded the Victoria Cross. A Kiwi of immense bravery, he had led the Hood Battalion attack, capturing their 1st and 2nd objectives and had been wounded twice. The RND were sailors in an infantry role. Thomas Lannigan, a Belfast Gunner, survived the retreat to Dunkirk, and died defending England from Luftwaffe attacks in 1940. Frank Daly from Coleraine died in Italy in 1943 with the Inniskillings. Three submariners with NI links died on this date in 1940 and 1944. Charles Morrison from Bangor and Jospeh O’Neill from Lurgan were lost in HM Sub Swordfish.
