WWI COMMEMORATIONS: KERRY REMEMBERS
THE centenary of the end of World War One – a conflict that claimed the lives of some 700 men from Kerry – was marked across the county on Sunday as towns and villages across Kerry paid tribute to the fallen.
The largest of the commemorative events took place on Valentia where hundreds gathered for a special ceremony at St John The Baptist Church in Knightstown.
Valentia had an important and often unacknowledged role in the ‘War to end all Wars’. As the landing point of the transatlantic cable – the primary line of communication between the British and the United States – the island was one of the most important and heavily guarded bases in the British Empire.
Indeed it is for that very reason that the British forces were so shocked when it emerged that the famous Easter Rising telegram was sent to republicans in the US from Valentia’s Cable Station.
To put it in a modern context it would be akin to a message about a White House coup in emanating from the Pentagon.
The commemoration in Knightstown – organised by Kerry County Council, Creative Ireland and Lyric FM – involved a performance by internationally renowned Kerry baritone Gavin Ring and pianist Aoife O’Sullivan.
The duo performed songs by both British and Irish composers were included in the recital which was set to poems by W.B Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Francis Ledwidge.
UCD History Professor Muiris Bric – who hails from Cahersiveen – was also on hand to provide an historical context for the recital which acknowledged the efforts of Kerry men who volunteered to fight in World War One and the 700 who never came home.
“There was a sense of acknowledgement and remembrance of a time in our history that has not been forgotten. It was beautifully executed by the artists involved and we are very grateful to everyone and to the parish church for helping to make the event possible”, said Kate Kennelly, Arts Officer at Kerry County Council.
Other towns and villages, including Listowel and Caherdaniel, held their own commemorations as did the people of Tralee, the home of the Munster Fusiliers.
The Fusiliers – whose regimental headquarters was at Ballymullen Barracks in Tralee – fought in several of the war’s most ferocious engagements including Galipoli, Ypres, Givency, the Somme. and at Mons where the Fusiliers second Battalion was almost wiped out.
Tralee’s commemoration – the first time Armistice Day was marked in the town since the late 1930’s – began before dawn on Sunday morning when three pipers from the Tralee Pipes and Drums and the Killorglin and District Pipe Band met on the Mall to honour the fallen.
The trio joined pipers in thousands of locations on all continents who, at 6am their time, lined out to play retreat march ‘ the Battle’s O’er’.
The time was significant, as it was at 6am on November 11, 1918 the Armistice of Compiègne was signed between the Allies and Germany.
Later on Sunday the fusiliers were remembered when Mayor of Kerry Norma Foley presided over a wreath laying ceremony at the monument to the Fusiliers and Kerry’s other WWI dead near Ballymullen Barracks.