The Battle of Loos in WW1 impacts on today’s Roll. There are seven NI names from Loos in 1915, four of which are of men who fell serving with Scots regiments. Among them was Major Nicholas Archdale, an Old Portoran serving with the Cameron Highlanders. Francis Curley a former student at Belfast Municipal Technical Institute and a QUB engineering graduate is also named on the Loos Memorial – for men with no known grave. Another Fermanagh man was lost on this day, Henry Gartside-Tipping was in HMS Sanda of the Dover Patrol, a Trawlers and Minesweeping flotilla. Sanda was sunk by shore batteries at Zeebrugge, Belgium. Dr James Gatchell had strong inks with Portstewart where he is remembered. He was awarded the Military Cross and Croix de Guerre (France) in WW1. Three WW1 fatalities were in Empire forces. The final entry is of Harry Freeland a RAFVR pilot from Holywood with Coleraine Inst links who died in a special operations flight in WW2. Hugh McCollum, one of the veterans remembered today, was a survivor of the Battle of Jutland. Another veteran is George Ernest Cromey, a Presbyterian minister and Irish international rugby player, who on a Lions’ tour of South Africa was charged with the task impossible of keeping founding SAS officer Blair Mayne out of trouble. On this day in 1939, Warsaw falls to Germany. The city will endure 1,939 days of ruthless Nazi occupation.
Remembrance NI - Every day is a Remembrance Day 