Remembrance NI
Every day is a Remembrance Day
May 12 – Roll of Honour
Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the final successful attack on Monte Cassino in 1944 which opens the way for the liberation of Italy in WW2. John Gilmore from Killyleagh was lost in HMS Grove. He had been torpedoed twice and taken part in the Dunkirk evacuation. His younger brother was also in the RN. Local newspapers in 1915 report on major army events in Belfast and a march from Finner Camp via Strabane to Londonderry. Read More
May 11 – Roll of Honour
Remembered today are 12 including an army medical consultant who fled Vienna and qualified at QUB. Also RNR Commander William Brown Piggot from Londonderry who had an excellent record as a U-boat hunter. Photo – Tyne Cot. Read More
May 10 – Roll of Honour
A 19-year-old Irish Fusilier from Lisburn was wounded twice by Christmas 1914. He died this day in 1915 at Hooge. Today is the anniversary of five RAF aircrew from NI whose remains rest in Dunboe, Oxfordshire, France, and Egypt. Gen. Dwight D Eisenhower comments on N Ireland’s role – “From here we started the long, hard march to Allied victory” Read More
May 9 – Roll of Honour
The WW1 Roll today is dominated by The Battle of Aubers Ridge in 1915. Nine here are remembered on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Hainaut, Belgium. A Newspaper reports on Belfast family with five sons serving. In 1941 the secret German Enigma code machine is captured by the RN. In 1945 the Buglers of 35(Irish)Brigade sound Cease Fire and Field Marshal Montgomery makes a special request for 2RUR to assist at the funeral of a RUR officer on his staff killed in a car accident. Read More
May 07 – Roll of Honour
Edward Mockler serving with Canadian infantry was injured at the Battle of Langemarck, died of his wounds in Cambridge, and was brought home to Ballinderry. Three other NI men in Canadian forces are in today’s Roll. In WW2 Donald Stewart, RN, from Derry died in a Japanese PoW camp – one of four brothers to serve, one of two to die. Read More
May 06 – Roll of Honour
Three men serving with the Royal Naval Division fell in Gallipoli in 1915. Since 1916 three Royal Irish Riflemen rest in Authuile Military Cemetery, France. War graves in Egypt, Tunisia, India and Madagascar with our national Naval Memorials testify to the global service of NI men in WW2. The youngest was 17 years old, lost in HMS Gloucester. He joined aged 15. Read More
