Rededication for Irish soldiers buried in mass graves at Deansgrange C

[Don]

From the Irish Times.

The graves of 63 Irishmen who fought in the first World War were rededicated yesterday in a service at Deansgrange Cemetery.

The men, mostly Catholic, served in the war but their military service was kept off the headstones because of the political climate.

The last man to be remembered yesterday died in 1998.

Seven plaques were put on four mass graves where the 63 men are buried. Many had been in psychiatric institutions after the war.

The rededication was carried out by Fr Joe Kennedy from Mount Argus and the Rev Arthur Young from Kill O’The Grange, Church of Ireland.

Deansgrange Cemetery supervisor John McCann said the graves had been designed not to stand out as denoting military service in the war.

The Ulster Covenant and Historical Society was at the rededication in their first visit to such an event in the Republic.

Mr McCann said there might be thousands of Irishmen who fought in the first World War buried in Deansgrange Cemetery and it should be given a Cross of Sacrifice similar to the one erected in Glasnevin Cemetery recently.

[Fattyowls]

Thanks Gerry; intriguing and heartening at the same time.

Pete.

[depaor01]

Intriguing is right. The media regularly cite the "Political Climate" when Irish non commemoration rears its admittedly very ugly head.

Yet in Dublin's Grangegorman cemetery and smaller cemeteries across the country, thousands of CWGC headstones stand, as they have done since they were erected after the war.

Rather than the overall political climate, could it have been more likely that the deceased servicemen's families ended up with Republican tendencies and it was their own decision to refuse a headstone from the CWGC?

[Anneca]

It is good these men have been remembered but so sad to hear many had been in psychiatric institutions after the war, possibly ending their lives there.

Anne

[BrendanLee]

I think the comment “their military service was kept off the headstones because of the political climate” is interesting, was it common practice to include the details of WW1 military service on the headstones of veterans buried in the U.K.

[Don]

It is good these men have been remembered but so sad to hear many had been in psychiatric institutions after the war, possibly ending their lives there.

Anne

It is good these men have been remembered but so sad to hear many had been in psychiatric institutions after the war, possibly ending their lives there.

Anne

Totally Agree with you Anne, It's a fitting tribute to their memory, may they all rest in peace and never be forgotten

Gerry

[BrendanLee]

Some images of the new memorial. It has a large headstone with the names bordered in polished stone with an engraved crest of an Irish regiment at each corner. The four Irish regiments represented on this memorial are Connaught Rangers, The Leinsters, R.D.F. and the Irish Guards.

Lying on the ground over where the bodies lie are three plaques, the centre one in English and the ones to the left and right in Gaelic. The two Gaelic plaques read the same as the English one.

[Clarissabell]

Thanks for sharing the information and the photos. It seems strangely moving to see Gaelic script beside the image of the WWI soldier, and all the more moving that it should be viewed as something strange in Ireland, when so many men and women were involved in that conflict.

C.