100th anniversary ceremonies heal old war wounds for Irish soldiers

Last week, Glasnevin cemetery had a ceremony for Irish service men and women who served in World Wars 1 and 2, and for WWI’s 100th anniversary.

4,500 Irish nurses served in WWI. A cross was unveiled, at the graves of 200 WWI Irish servicemen, by the Glasnevin Trust and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which looks after the war graves and cemeteries worldwide of those who served in the British, New Zealand, Australian, and Canadian armies. The War Graves Commission represents all faiths and none. Ireland left the Commonwealth in 1949.

President Michael D Higgins spoke of how we, today, can eliminate all the barriers that have stood between those Irish soldiers who died in the war, for whose remains we have responsibility, and whose memories we have a duty to respect. We cannot give back their lives to the dead, he said, nor whole bodies to those who were wounded, nor repair the grief, nor undo the disrespect shown to those who fought, but we can honour them now.