Ahern to unveil memorial to town’s Great War fallen

A MEMORIAL to 131 soldiers from a Cork town, who died in WWI, is to be unveiled on Sunday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Three years of painstaking research by Fermoy man and former soldier, Paudie McGrath, were involved in the project.

He got the idea after visiting the USS Sullivan, named after five brothers — descendants of an Adrigole family — who lost their lives when their cruiser was sunk in 1942.

“I discovered a staggering 131 servicemen from Fermoy and its immediate surrounding area fell in the Great War.

“I believe it to be the greatest number of fatalities suffered by any town in Munster during that period,” Mr McGrath said.

His research uncovered three families who each lost three brothers during what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.

Able Seaman Robert Leopold Fleury, of the Royal Naval Reserve, was killed in action, aged 23, in the Dardanelles on May 6, 1915.

His 21-year-old brother, Rifleman John Charles Fleury, who served with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, was killed at the Battle of the Somme on October 3, 1916.

Private Hugo Valentine Fleury, who served with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Battalion, also lost his life in France. The 20-year-old was killed on September 8, 1917.

The brothers came from a family of 14 and were the sons of Reverend LR Fleury, from the village of Kilworth.

Mathew and Mary Morrissey, who lived in Albert Place, Fermoy also lost three sons. Sergeant Michael Morrissey (Munster Fusiliers), Lance Corporal Richard Morrissey (Leinster Regiment) and his younger brother, Mathew, of the same regiment, were all killed during offences on the Western Front.

A similar fate befell Munster Fusiliers Daniel Piggott and Edward Piggott, from Pound Lane, Fermoy. Their other brother, Patrick, a member of the Connaught Rangers, was also killed in France.

Paudie McGrath himself lost two granduncles, Jerry and Michael McGrath, killed in action on the Western Front. Their brother, John, served throughout the war and died in 1951.

“There are probably very few people alive in Fermoy today who don’t have some relative who served in the war, or who lost their lives in it,” Mr McGrath said.

Around 1,000 people are expected to attend the commemoration. The British and Australian ambassadors are to attend along with their military attaches and the American military attache will also attend.

“There will be senior members of the Irish Defence Forces and the gardaí and also representatives from the British Legion,” Mr McGrath said.

The granite memorial, which will have a centrepiece Celtic Cross, will feature the names of all 131 soldiers, and cost €18,000.