Posts by Edmund O'Sullivan
2 LIR in North Africa, June 1943
A photograph taken in the summer of 1943 in Algeria shows twenty five officers of the 2nd Battalion of the London Irish Rifles (2 LIR) as they prepared to join the Allied invasion of Sicily. It was a little more than six months after the Battalion had landed in Algiers as part of Operation Torch,…
Read MoreSecond World War heroes who scrummed for Ireland
There was a roar of excitement for the first scrum of the Ireland versus Wales international at Belfast’s Ravenhill Stadium on the afternoon of Saturday 3rd April 1937. England had already been declared that year’s champions having successively defeated Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Ireland was playing to be runners up; Wales to avoid the wooden…
Read MoreCaptain James Justin McPhillips
We received a very nice note from the daughter of Captain James McPhillips who served with the 6th Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Tunisia and Italy during 1943/44, suffering wounds on two occasions. In the note to us, Angela Gawthorpe told us: “I have just watched part 5 of ‘All my Brothers’. Thank you so…
Read MoreFusilier Harold Mellor
We received an excellent note from the son of Fusilier Harold Mellor, who served with the 6th and 2nd Inniskillings in Italy and Austria. In his note to us, Stephen Mellor told us: “ My father died in 2000 and three years ago I commenced research into my father’s war experiences in order to…
Read MoreFull house in Omagh for All My Brothers film
A full house and an appreciative audience saw the fourth episode of All My Brothers, the Story of the Irish Brigade in the Second World War at the Strule Arts Theatre in Omagh on 14 January. The film covered the role of the Irish Brigade in the Adriatic Campaign in October-December 1943 and in front-line…
Read MoreEyewitness recalls Maletto battle
Vincenzo Gangi, who celebrates his 90th birthday in October, told the Irish Brigade website how he saw machine gunners positioned on a rooftop in his home town of Maletto shoot down an allied plane during the build-up to the Irish Brigade assault on the town in the early hours of 12th August 1943. Then a…
Read MoreCommemorations in Maletto
The Irish Brigade website were most honoured to be invited to attend a Service of Remembrance and Conference in Maletto, on the north western slopes of Mount Etna, that covered events in the town during the Sicily campaign of July and August 1943. After being attendant at a service at the town’s War Memorial, the…
Read MorePiper Albert Jeffrey at the Vatican
Excerpt of The Wartime Memoirs of Albert “Jeff” Jeffrey. The 2 LIR’s visit to the Pope in June 1944 is well documented but nothing has been written of the Band’s performance. On arriving we did the usual trick of counter-marching on arrival at any church, so as to be facing the following marchers who then…
Read MoreSergeant Thomas Renshaw
We have recently been contacted by the grandson of Sergeant Thomas Renshaw, who served with both the Royal Irish Fusiliers and the London Irish Rifles during the Second World War. In his note to us, Darren Russell explained that his grandfather had served with the 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles throughout the Tunisian campaign but…
Read MoreLance Corporal Joseph Ransley
We have received a note from Gary Sherrington about his grandfather, Lance Corporal Joseph Ransley, who served with the Irish Brigade in North Africa and Italy. In his note, Gary told us: “My grandfather served with the 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles during 1943. Incidentally, like your father Edmund, he was also from Peckham and in…
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