Evocative images on NI beaches for Armistice
THE haunting images of a First World War soldier and a nurse appeared on Northern Ireland beaches to mark the centenary of Armistice Day.
At Murlough beach in Co Down an image of John McCance from Dundrum was etched in the sand as part of the Pages of the Sea project spearheaded by Hollywood director Danny Boyle.
Mr McCance enlisted as a rifleman in Downpatrick and died at Passchendaele. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial on the Western Front, along with 35,000 others.
A huge artist’s impression of First World War nurse Rachel Ferguson was displayed at Downhill beach. Ms Ferguson, from Moneymore, died in 1918 while working for Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service.
Mr Boyle said it was a “unique moment” to honour the “millions of men and women who left these shores to fight and serve during the war, many never to return”.
Belfast Telegraph photographer Kevin Scott (below), who captured images at Murlough using a drone, said: “One hundred years on from the rifleman’s disappearance in August 1917, John returned to Co Down. Not the return that was intended for the young rifleman but with the stunning scenery and the crowds looking on, one thing was certain; John got the final send off that he long deserved and I can only hope that these poignant images do justice in recording that special moment in local history.”
Projections of ghostly silhouettes of World War One soldiers illuminated Titanic Belfast last night, one of several landmarks across the UK to display the images of ‘Tommies’. And Belfast City Hall and Parliament Buildings at Stormont were also lit up in red on Saturday night to mark the 100th anniversary
of the Armistice.