Please be seated: how we can thank French villages for honouring Irish war dead

LAST September the villages of Ginchy and Guillemont in the Somme region of France joined to commemorate the courageous efforts and grievous losses suffered by the 16th Irish Division to liberate both villages from German occupation in September 1916.

Following the fighting, which raged from September 3 to 9, more than 1,000 Irish dead lay strewn in the fields around these villages. On the morning of September 9, 2006 the names of all of the Irish dead were read by the mayor of Guillemont, Didier Samain, and by his council members.

Later that day, commemoration services were held at Guillemont and Ginchy churches and at the site known as Ginchy Telegraph where the battle was finally won.