The first and last British casualties of WW1 were buried at St Symphorien Military Cemetery near Mons where there are British, Empire and German graves. In 1941 a Nazi spy was arrested in Dublin.
The records today include six Royal Irish Riflemen in WW1. In 1916 Sergeant Joseph Allen of the Australian Tunnelling Corps died in France. He and his wife Sarah lived in Cottesloe, Western Australia. His parents lived in Lurgan, NI. In 1943 38(Irish) Brigade including the London Irish Rifles crossed the Sangro river in Italy. On this day in 1940, 1941 and 1944 three RAF died whose remains were brought home for burial in Belfast and Omagh. Do read the graphic account in the record of Sgt Billy McClune the bomb-aimer in Lancaster Q-Queenie. It was on a wrong heading and too low and tore through a hillside of fields and hedges, before a massive explosion collapsed the Lanc into a disintegrating inferno. Billy’s remains rest in Knockbreda Cemetery. Today’s veterans were both medics – one army and one navy. They were Alfred Dickey and James Watson. Both were former students at Campbell College and Queens University. They were from Draperstown Manse and Castlerock.
Remembrance NI - Every day is a Remembrance Day 