Remembrance NI
Every day is a Remembrance Day
March 21 – Roll of Honour
The Roll today is dominated by the records of over thirty who fell in the retreat from St Quentin in the German ‘Kaiserschlacht’ Spring Offensive on Thursday 21st March 1918. 966 men died in 10 days, 5000 were taken pow, the VC was awarded to Edward De Wind. Photo – Men of the 11th Battalion (Donegal & Fermanagh) Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 36th (Ulster) Division in a captured German communications trench near Havrincourt during the Battle of Cambrai. Read More
March 20 – Roll of Honour
March 20 – HMS Lapwing was lost on a convoy to Murmansk in 1945. Billy Jess (photo) from Lisburn survived. WW1 men from Ballymena, Downpatrick, and Enniskillen and a Presbyterian minister from Coleraine serving as a YMCA Chaplain are amongst those remembered today. Read More
March 19 – Roll of Honour
This year the Anzac Dawn Service, National Ceremony, and veterans’ march will not take place in Canberra. A ceremony will be held in the Commemorative Area and Hall of Memory. It will not be open to the public but will be nationally televised. The Roll today recalls the deaths of servicemen in years after cessation of hostilities. A record of a Flight Engineer from Ballymena highights the service of Coastal Command. Read More
March 18 – Roll of Honour
In 1944. Anzio area, Italy. Men from 2 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers reading the sports newspaper “Ireland’s Saturday Night”. Accounts today – of a medical student, John Bill, son of missionaries, serving with Royal Irish Rifles, remembered at Tyne Cot. William Richmond of the NIH survived WW1. Six sons of the McAtamney family of Carrickfergus served in WW2. Bobby, a Petty Officer, survived the First Battle of Narvik in 1940 when his ship was sunk. Read More
March 17 – Roll of Honour
St Patrick’s Day 1945. Brigadier Scott: “We were in the line on St Patrick’s Day. ‘Jon’ produced an excellent ‘Two Types’ cartoon in the ‘8th Army News’ depicting an officer wearing a caubeen and hackle cutting shamrocks out of a billiard tablecloth – presumably to make ‘flashes’ for the Irish Brigade.” Caption stated – “It may be St Patrick’s Day, but I think that’s going a bit too far”. A Veteran’s story of service with North Irish Horse in WW1 makes for a good read for St Patrick’s Day Read More
March 16 – Roll of Honour
Two women who died serving are named in today’s Roll. A Lurgan Sister of the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service died as a result of her service in WW1. A Section Officer in the WAAF from Killyleagh died in a WW2 flying accident. Their graves are in their home churchyards. Three Royal Ulster Riflemen were killed in a road accident near Antrim. Photo – The Great War Battlefields in Winter: the French Cemetery at Chattancourt near Mort Homme, Verdun. Read More
March 15 – Roll of Honour
Among those remembered today is Andrew Todd, a medical officer from Derry and Moneymore, who served in both World Wars. He was the father of actor Richard Todd. Richard was one of the first members of the Parachute Regiment to jump on D-day – a real-life role he later echoed, albeit at a higher rank, in the film The Longest Day (1962). Read More
