Ronan McGreevy Posted 23 November , 2017 Share Posted 23 November , 2017 Hi, My colleagues and I in The Irish Times have made the film United Ireland: how nationalists and unionists fought together in Flanders. It tells the story of the two Irish divisions fighting together in the 1917 campaign. It is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland and the Imperial War Museum. It is 52 minutes long (an hour long) for television and narrated by me. I am the author of the book Wherever the Firing Line Extends: Ireland and the Western Front. I will be exhibiting it at the Western Front Association conference in Collins Barracks, Dublin, on Saturday, November 25th at 9.45am. You can find the details here. https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/one-day-world-war-one-conference-tickets-38083478710 If anybody wishes to see the film, send me a DM and I will send you the link. You can view the trailer here. Regards, Ronan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 23 November , 2017 Share Posted 23 November , 2017 Nice clip Ronan. One thing though... @about 1:22 It sounds to me that you say that Francis Ledwidge is buried at Artillery Road Cemetery. I'm sure it must be my hearing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronan McGreevy Posted 23 November , 2017 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2017 I did say that. I should have said Artillery Wood Cemetery. I'll correct that. Regards, Ronan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 23 November , 2017 Share Posted 23 November , 2017 Cheers Ronan, as you know, the cemetery is important to us here in Wales too. It looks like a fine project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyO Posted 23 November , 2017 Share Posted 23 November , 2017 Just watched this Ronan. Many thanks for the link. Great to hear about these forgotten histories of the two divisions working together and of course some regiments like the Royal Irish Fusiliers (in which my great grandfather fought) had battalions in both the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronan McGreevy Posted 23 November , 2017 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2017 4 hours ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said: Cheers Ronan, as you know, the cemetery is important to us here in Wales too. It looks like a fine project. Hi Dai, we visited Hed Wynn's grave when we were in Artillery Wood Cemetery, but it didn't really fit into the narrative for the book. A fine man and poet though. Regards, Ronan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_B Posted 25 November , 2017 Share Posted 25 November , 2017 Ronan, Thanks for the opportunity of watching your thought provoking film. "I found the dying lad - he was not much more- so tightly jammed into a corner of the trench that it was almost impossible to get him out. Both legs were smashed, one in two or three places, so his chances of life were small, and there were other injuries as well. What a harrowing picture that scene would have made. A splendid young soldier, married only a month they told me, lying there, pale and motionless in the mud and water with the life crushed out of him by a cruel shell. The stretcher bearers hard at work binding up as well as they may, his broken limbs; round about a group of silent Tommies looking on and wondering when will their turn come. Peace for a moment seems to have taken possession of the battlefield, not a sound save the deep boom of some far-off gun and the stifled moans of the dying boy, while as if anxious to hide the scene, nature drops her soft mantle of snow on the living and dead alike." - Fr. Doyle When Fr. Doyle died along side so many of his compatriots in August 1917 on Frezenberg Ridge, it could not have been far from where my Grandfather’s cousin was killed on 8th May 1915. On that day two years earlier, the whole 2/East Surreys had advanced with others to stem the German attack and retake the lost trenches at Frezenberg. Met by a hail of machine gun and shell fire the task was beyond them. The Dublins were in action on that day too. I have wondered what message I should take from your film: a wish for reconciliation, or that still unfulfilled yearning for a united Ireland. Or perhaps it is simply a plea that the Irishmen who fought in the British Army should not be forgotten. But as your visit to Langemark and the Studentenfriedhof showed, it is the fate of those who fall on the wrong side of history to be wiped from memory. I hope you get a good reception in Dublin this morning .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronan McGreevy Posted 25 November , 2017 Author Share Posted 25 November , 2017 Dear Chris, Indeed, Fr Doyle was a great man. We had a great day and it got a very good reception. Thank you for taking the time to watch it. I really appreciate it. Regards, Ronan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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