johndregg Posted 13 May , 2008 Share Posted 13 May , 2008 I've been researching my grandfather John McKeever's war record, which as you will no doubt already know is not an easy thing to do for a novice, especially as i live in belgium and the records are all at kew (well not all.....). Family history had him as a Belfast connaught ranger, but an uncle had him finishing the war in the Royal Irish regt, but all papers medals have long since disappeared and when he was alive i don't think he talked about it much. With the help of a military history researcher and me remembering the name of my grandads best mate during the war we were able to deduce which of the pte John Mckeevers he was. Turns out he was 7/royal irish regiment 6387 pte, with his friend being Teer Herbert 7/R irish regiment 6646 Pte.(i had met herbie as a child so i remembered him giving me Oxo to drink from a tin mug) Unfortunately his main record has been lost, so thats all i have in fact. Going back to family ledgend he was wounded in both legs at Cambrai, spent some time as a prisoner and suffered from the same wounds and night terrors all his life. I can only find very small references to the 7/royal Irish regiment online, they seem to have been raised in late 1917 and then disolved (is that the right word?) in early 1918. What happend to them? Is there anyone on here who can shed some light on what my grandfather may have experienced as young soldier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndregg Posted 14 May , 2008 Author Share Posted 14 May , 2008 anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hambo Posted 14 May , 2008 Share Posted 14 May , 2008 John You may have come across this but if not try this link which is dedicated to the South Irish Horse and has quite a lot of info regarding history and personnel. You could contact the webmaster and see what he has. http://southirishhorse.com/ Regards Hambo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndregg Posted 14 May , 2008 Author Share Posted 14 May , 2008 Thanks for that. I will be contacting him in due course. My researcher has the exact title of the unit as 7th (southern irish horse)Batt royal Irish regiment, part of the 49th brigade of the 16th Irish division if that helps. I have found some references to this outfit on wikipedia, it states that the 7th RIR were involved in battles around St Quentin during March 1918 which i take to be the German spring offensive and on another website i found a report of two companies of the 7th RIRbeing "lost to a man" during this onslaught. Does anyone have any suggested further reading on this part of the war? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curranl Posted 14 May , 2008 Share Posted 14 May , 2008 Hi John, There is an account of the assault on the 49th Brigade (including 7th Royal Irish Regiment) on March 15th 1918 at Flesquires/Ronnsoy in Tom Johnstone's Orange, Green and Khaki pages 354-360. If you can't get a copy, send me a PM and I may be able to scan the relevant pages. Regards, liam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndregg Posted 14 May , 2008 Author Share Posted 14 May , 2008 thats fantastic news, i'll try amazon and if i luck out i'll get back to you!!!! ok, stop laughing!!!!! is that how much that book goes for??? thing is..........its important enough almost to pay it!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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