In 1914 a QUB Lecturer in Archaeology and Ancient History was killed on the second day of the Battle of Mons. Kingdom Fross fought so courageously the Germans buried him with military honours. In 1917 Fivemiltown-born William Walker died at the St John’s Ambulance Brigade Hospital in Etaples, France, as a result of gunshot wounds to his shoulder and spine. He was serving with Canadian forces. Harold McCrea, son of the Presbyterian minister in Bellaghy, served with Australian forces and died in 1923 having been discharged in 1918 medically unfit due to injuries. Petty Officer Samuel Patterson from the Shankill Road, Belfast, served as a Torpedo Gunner’s Mate. He was awarded the DSM for “undaunted courage, skill, and devotion to duty in successful patrols in HM Submarines”. Three RAF men were lost this day in 1942. Leslie Craig from Strabane died when his Wellington bomber for unknown reasons crashed near Namur in Belgium. John McCleary from Dungannon died over north Germany and Mervyn McCrae from Clogher died off Malta. Sub-Lieutenant Edward Thornberry died in 1944 flying a Vought F4U-1A Corsair from HMS Formidable during the attack on the battleship Tirpitz when he was shot down and killed over Alten Fjord. He is remembered at QUB and Bessbrook War Memorials. Photo – On this day in 1944 Allied forces liberated Paris after four years of German occupation.
Remembrance NI - Every day is a Remembrance Day 