Five NI men died this day at Gallipoli in 1915, three were Inniskillings – Henry Black from Derry, Hugh McBride from Coleraine, and James Espey from Cookstown. On the evening of June 28 1916, a few days before the Battle of the Somme, men of the 13th Btn, Royal Irish Rifles were moving out of the French Village of Martinsart to take up forward positions on the Somme when they were hit by a German artillery shell. Fourteen men died immediately and a further nine died in the days that followed as a result of their wounds. They were mainly from Lisburn, Hillsborough, and Dromore. Eight RAF men named on today’s Roll died over Burma, France, and Italy. Fred Mathews from Lurgan died near El Alamein serving with New Zealand forces. One of today’s Veterans, George McFadden, was a Royal Navy Medic who was washed overboard in WW1, survived, and served in the army in WW2. He later became Senior Surgeon at both the Belfast Infirmary and the Ulster Hospital for Children and Women. Today is the anniversary of The Bomber Command Memorial which was unveiled in the year of her Diamond Jubilee by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on June 28, 2012. Photo – Lijssenhoek Military Cemetery, the second largest CWGC cemetery in Belgium.
Remembrance NI - Every day is a Remembrance Day 