REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT AN EXHIBITION AT THE DUBLIN CIVIC MUSEUM ON IRISH REGIMENTS
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT AN EXHIBITION AT THE DUBLIN CIVIC MUSEUM ON IRISH REGIMENTS IN THE GREAT WAR
Firstly I would like to thank the curator, Tom O’Connor for his warm words of welcome to the Dublin Civic Museum and to this exhibition on the Irish Regiments in the Great War. I want also to congratulate the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association for their work in assembling the material in the exhibition – and for their commitment and dedication to the memory of all those who took part in the War that was to end all wars.
The unfolding history of this island in the decades immediately after the First World War saw a polarisation of the traditions and a tendency to regard that period as an episode in British history. Of course, we know that it impacted on all of Europe – and that many lives and families were profoundly affected by the suffering and misery. While it was a war that was to see the demise of the Romanov, Hoherzollern, Habzburg and Ottoman Empires, it was to see death and destruction of human life on a scale that was never seen before. Ireland, which was then part of the British Empire, could not have escaped. There were 140,500 Irish volunteers in addition to 58,000 enlisted men – all from the four provinces on Ireland - who took part in battles at places like Mons, Ypres, Gallipoli, Salonica, the Somme and Passchendaele. Of these, 35,000 lost their lives. How many people realise that the first shots in the war were fired by a Corporal in the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards – that the first Victoria Cross was awarded to a man from County Meath – that the youngest recruit killed was a fourteen year old Private – a mere child - in the Royal Irish Regiment.
The process of political restructuring that has been taking place in Northern Ireland - on the whole island of Ireland - and the culture of re-appraisal and confidence that has been engendered by that process – have had the effect of opening up minds to new perspectives on past events – where the blindfolds and blinkers of traditional allegiances are being lifted to allow the full panorama of history to be seen for what it is. That is a gradual process. But it is unstoppable.
In this significant anniversary year of the Great War we have an opportunity to take a closer look at the events and people who were involved. It is very important in the process of looking back at the events that punctuated the history of Europe at that time – that we look beneath the headlines to the stories of the people involved – the ordinary people who served with honour – who were proud to wear their regimental uniform – and who had family and friends who were proud of their participation.
Looking around this exhibition, at the collected personal memorabilia – at the photographs and letters – the medals and insignia that families have kept and treasured as reminders of those who took part in the war - you get a glimpse of what it must have been like to see so many young people leaving with hope in their hearts – with determination to do their duty with their compatriots – and with a common focus which obliterated the differences in background and tradition. You can almost touch the lives of these ordinary men – you can get an appreciation for what they thought as they went to war - in something like a travel pass for the mother of a soldier who journeyed to London to see her wounded son – the wartime greeting cards – the stories of the likes of William Purcell – or Andrew Kinsella – or of Sgt. Tommy Cunningham, a prisoner of war – or Lance Corporal John Boland’s last letter to his mother – or we see material relating to the young poet Francis Ledwidge, an ordinary but talented young man from Slane in County Meath who, having survived the Gallipoli landings and the Serbian blizzards lost his life in Belgium in 1917. Indeed Ledwidge so simply and movingly captured both the finality and sadness of the death, and the escape from suffering and agony in his poem, “A Soldier’s Grave”:-
“Then in the lull of midnight, gentle arms
Lifted him slowly down the slopes of death,
Lest he should hear again the mad alarms
Of battle, dying moans, and painful breath”
These are the things which give us that other, human dimension, to our history. These are important if we are to make true sense of our past.
Later this year – in November - I will be travelling to Belgium to a ceremony at Messines in Belgium, which both commemorates those 35,000 Irish men who died in the war and seeks to use their tremendous sacrifice as the foundation on which to build a greater understanding and respect between the traditions from which those men came. Death does not recognise tradition or culture, class or creed.
This exhibition is a very valuable contribution to the process of reflection and understanding that is so essential for all of us to engage in. I know that there are many families today who were touched in some way or another by the Great War. This exhibition gives recognition to the men who served with honour and distinction. It gives us a valuable insight into their lives and the troubled times through which they lived.
In opening the exhibition, I would like to commend the Dublin Civic Museum for their vision at this important time in this island’s history. I would also like recommend it to everybody who has an interest in understanding and appreciating the many elements and facets of our varied history.
ENDS