It’s in telling the individual stories that there is a chance of reconciling the traditions in Ireland – do you remember Tom Hartley of Sinn Fein going to the Western Front with the late David Ervine from the PUP? It was the individual stories that united them.

I have this hope of being at an occasion in eight years’ time and being able to read Francis Ledwidge’s ‘Lament for Thomas MacDonagh’ and his ‘Soliloquy’ and both of them being held in equal respect.

Thank you for this very moving post. You’ve succeeded in putting a human face to the awful tragedy of war. By making the connection between the graffiti on the pew and the memorial plaque on the wall, you’ve brought alive the memory of all the ‘Percy’s’ who went to war but never returned.

Percy’s life may have been lost in vain but at least, he’s not forgotten.

Many thanks for your comments and thank you for the link – I wondered why my number of visitors had doubled!

Lovely piece of writing. Really.

I don’t agree with a lot of the jingoism that goes along with Poppy Day, and I don’t wear one myself. But it doesn’t do any harm to pause for a moment and reflect on the tragedy…

So many lives wasted… and for what? One brutal empire against another.

btw – I’m blogging your piece on http://www.irishinbritain.com