Posts by Edmund O'Sullivan
Monte Cassino to Rome Peace Walk. Day one 22 April 2025
The day began with the walkers visiting the Volksbund cemetery at Caira in the company of Colonel Thomas Rieberling, a good friend of the Freedom for Italy network, where we paid our respects. At 1000, the Peace Walkers set off from the Pax Gate at the Abbey of Monte Cassino with a blessing from deputy…
Read MoreMagazine article highlights the resonance of Second World War commemorations in Cassino, Rome and Normandy
Cassino War Cemetery south of Rome An article about the contemporary resonance of Second World War commemorations following recent remembrance events in Cassino, Rome and Normandy has been published by The Tablet, the London monthly magazine. “But as moving as these events may be, questions will be asked about their future with increasing frequency,” article…
Read MorePapal message for liberation of Rome thanksgiving service
Bishop Paul Mason, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Buendia and the Papal message read at the Liberation of Rome Thanksgiving Service at the Cathedral Church of St Michael & St George on 15 June Bishop of the Armed Forces Paul Mason read out the text of a Papal message sent for the thanksgiving service in the Cathedral…
Read MorePope Francis gives thumbs up at commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Irish Brigade brigade’s audience in the Vatican
Pope Francis salutes the Bugles, Pipes & Drums of the Royal Irish Regiment with a thumbs up at St Peter’s Basilica on 12 June A clearly enthralled Pope Francis gave a thumbs-up sign to the pipes and drums of the Royal Irish Regiment in St Peter’s Square on 12 June at an event to mark…
Read MoreArchbishop Gallagher salutes the Irish Brigade 80 years after they met the pope
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States within the Holy See’s Secretariat of State, today saluted the memory of the men of 38 (Irish) Brigade who were the first Allied troops to be greeted by Pope Pius XII in the Vatican following the liberation of Rome on 4 June 1944. “This was an extraordinary…
Read MoreRome liberation conference hears story of the end of the occupation of Italy’s capital
The Liberation of Rome Conference held in Anzio’s Villa Corsini Sarsina to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the occupation of Italy’s capital on 4 June 1944 heard 40 speakers from Italy and abroad share untold stories of events in the Second World War. Some 150 delegates attended the event which was organised…
Read MoreLondon Irish Rifles Pipers play inside the Abbey of Monte Cassino to mark the 80th anniversary of the battles of Cassino
London Irish Rifles bagpipers Gerald Griffin (left) and Gary O’Connor in the courtyard of the Abbey of Monte Cassino on 13 May London Irish Rifles pipers played inside the Abbey of Monte Cassino on 13 May to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the battles of Cassino in 1944 in which 38 (Irish)…
Read MoreThanksgiving service to be held to mark 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Rome
Cathedral Church of St Michael & St George Cardinal Nichols has authorised a thanksgiving service to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Rome to be held at the Military Cathedral Church of St Michael & St George in Aldershot at 11.30 on Saturday 15 June. The Cathedral Church of St Michael and St George serves…
Read MoreCharlie Lawson shares the story of his lost uncle with the We Have Ways podcast
UK actor Charlie Lawson shared the story of his uncle Royal Irish Fusiliers lieutenant John Glennie with James Holland and Al Murray in the popular weekly We Have Ways of Making You Talk Second World War podcast. John Glennie was killed in the Irish Brigade’s failed attack against German lines on the river Trigno north…
Read MoreRemembering great Italian escape of 1943-44
Tens of thousands of Allied prisoners of war fled from camps in Italy following the announcement of the armistice that took Rome out of the war in September 1943. Their story and the role played in it by Italians who provided them with food and shelter is being preserved in the work of the Monte…
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