Poignant France trip for Armistice Day
It was a poignant trip to France at the week-end for 82 year old Jackie McGown from Tully, calry.
He flew to the French capital, Paris last Saturday accompanied by his nephew, Enda and on Sunday, Armistice Day, they made the two hour journey north to Arras to visit the grave of Jackie’s uncle, Michael McGowan.
Michael, a native of Tully, Calry also, had emigrated to Canada and when World War One broke out he had joined the Canadian army.
He fought in many of the battles of WW1. including the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of the Ancre Heights 1916, the battle of Passchendaele (Belgium) 1917, and the battle of Arras 1918.
He went into battle in late September 1918 with 550 other men from his infantry regiment. By 30 Sept, only 96 were left.
Michael was killed in action at the Battle of Arras on 27 Sept 1918, aged 33, and was buried at quarry wood cemetery, near Arras, in northern France.
Jackie and Enda said the visit to the grave on the 100 th anniversary of the ending of The Great War was both sad and poignant.
Some 70 world leaders gathered under at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday to mark the 100 th anniversary of the end of first World War. The commemoration was the centrepiece of global tributes to honour the 10 million soldiers who were killed.