Major Colin Gibbs MC- Lionhearted London Irish Company Commander

The Irish Brigade website was delighted to join together recently with Michael Gibbs and Charles Ward to remember the time when Michael’s father, Captain (later Major) Gibbs, witnessed the attestations of Charles and Edmund O’Sullivan, both 20 years old, when they joined up with the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles (2 LIR) on 18th October…

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Major Desmond Woods – Liri Valley IV

Plan of Attack. John Horsfall then came up. He had been our 2 i/c and had seen a lot of fighting in North Africa; he was a very experienced officer and he came up to take over command of the London Irish Rifles and he called an O Group and I remember vey clearly the…

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Sgt George Guild’s photo collection

We are pleased to be able to share a number of photographs from the collection of Sgt George Guild MM, who was a platoon sergeant with F Company in the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles. We would like to thank the London Irish Rifles’ Museum for allowing us to share these intimate studies of a…

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Desmond Woods: Part III – The Liri Valley

H Company. Now, we were brought back and it was a question of what was going to happen next. We all felt that eventually we were going to get involved in the battle of Cassino and we came back to prepare for this – first of all to get  a bit of a rest after…

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London Irishman Charles Ward remembers the events of 1939

On 18 October 1939, three 20-year old men reported to Liverpool Street train station to respond to call up papers for them to join the British Army. They were met on the station concourse that morning by Captain Colin Gibbs, then Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles (2 LIR), who duly witnessed the attestation…

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2 LIR – July 1944

While in the Rome area many officers and men of the battalion enjoyed visits to the Eternal City, and some were received by the Pope in the Vatican.  The London Irish Rifles pipers and the bands of the two other Irish battalions in the brigade played in the precincts of the Vatican for His Holiness.…

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CQMS Edmund O’Sullivan with the London Irish Rifles

Edmund O’Sullivan was called up in October 1939 to join the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles and he would proudly serve with them for nearly 7 years. After completing basic training in South London, Edmund was posted as a Rifleman into G Company commanded by Major Colin Gibbs as the London Irish Rifles spent 2…

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Major Sir Mervyn Davies, 1918 – 2015

Lieutenant (David Herbert) Mervyn Davies joined the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles (2 LIR) at Guelma in Algeria as a (Temporary) Captain on 14th June 1943, while the Battalion was resting after their exertions over the previous six months in Tunisia and about to embark on a round of renewed training in preparation for the…

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Photographs from The Sicily Peace, Security & Prosperity conference 7-8 July 2023 Collapse The Sicily 1943: Peace, Security & Prosperity conference to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landings in Sicily in 1943 in Le Ciminiere Festival Centre in Catania on 7-8 July 2023 was addressed by 38 speakers from Sicily, Italy, Canada, Germany, the…

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Sgt Charles Ward Diary Entries

“As the war clouds gathered over Europe in 1939, the government decided that, as a precaution, young men aged 20 would be called up for six months to train as a reserve for the armed forces. My call up papers arrived telling me I was to report on Salisbury Plain to train in the Royal…

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