Collon’s man of courage
HUBERT MURPHY ATTENDED A POIGNANT CEREMONY AT COLLON CHURCH OF IRELAND THAT HONOURED THE MEMORY OF VICTORIA CROSS WINNER JAMES EMERSON
IT CAN be difficult at times to single out people for special commendation - especially when so many others battle and die in a similiar way. So when a commemoration of a name from the distant past takes place, there is always a question raised, suggested, hinted - ‘ why him, why her, why give them a special moment, were others not as valiant, not as brave, not as loyal... as them.’
The best way to answer such comment is to build a case perhaps, get the facts lined up, stand and deliver.
But those that have read about the exploits of James Samuel Emerson did not need any proof of the merits of a special day in Collon.
The local Church of Ireland was the setting for a Centenary Commemoration and Thanksgiving for the life and service of 2nd Lieut James Emerson.
It was in those pews that a young James sat many years ago.
Back then, war and death seemed a lifetime away, but the years would bring change.
His brothers would go to war, one captured and spending the conflict in a POW camp, the other fighting with a Canadian regiment.
At 19, he enlisted and joined the Royal Irish Fusiliers and by 1915 was a machine gunner.
He was injured in Hooge and taken back to hospital in Dublin and was there when the Rising took place. By June 1916 he was back at the Somme and such was his astuteness, he was drafted back to Donegal for officer training.
He returned to the Front with the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers and by late 1917 found himself fighting at the Hindenburg Line, north of La Vacquerie, France.
The letter Fr John Redmond wrote to his parents was read out, the opening words cutting the heart of his family in Collon a century ago ‘your boy was one of the finest officers in the battalion. His men would have followed him anywhere.’
The hours leading up to his death on December 6, 1917, were outlined, how a German handgrenade exploded over his head, how he refused treatment, refused to leave his men under fire, led the charge from the trenches and held his line until reinforcements arrived.
A bullet from a sniper downed him and he was carried to a relief station.
‘In his last moments, he thought of his family and we laid him in a green area and placed a cross over him,’ Fr Redmond wrote. ‘He died doing his duty.’
The ceremony was attended by the wider community, both Protestant and Catholic clergy, members of the Irish Army, Supt Fergus Treanor and Sgt Michael Kelly, the ONE, the Royal Inniskillens, members of the British Legion and others.
The Emerson family also came to honour their noble son and there too, Rosemary Yore. It was fitting that she rose to read a poem ‘Lament for Thomas MacDonagh’ - written by Francis Ledwidge.
It centred on the tragic 1916 leader and his death and how it impacted on the Slane man, who was fighting for the British army.
Rev Joyce Moore said it was very apt and she hoped that no more young men should ever have to lay down their lives for the greed of those in power.
One of those in attendance was the Cathaoirleach of the Laytown/Bettystown area council and Lobinstown based Paddy Meade.
He was much taken with the ceremony and said it was important to remember those that gave the greatest sacrific.
‘So many died from the Collon, Lobinstown and Slane areas and it’s important that they be remembered,’ he added.
After his death, James Samuel Emerson was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery, the ultimate award a soldier can receive.
‘He shall not hear the bittern cry In the wild sky, where he is lain Nor voices of the sweeter birds, Above the wailing of the rain.’