Posts Tagged ‘Italy’
Conference hears Irish Brigade Italy campaign stories
Enniskillen Castle Stories of members of the Irish Brigade in the Italian campaign were told at the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (The Skins) in the Italian campaign conference in Enniskillen on Saturday 11 November. The event was opened by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Mark Scott chairman of the Inniskillings Museum which hosted the conference. His father Robert…
Read MoreCharlie Lawson tells heartbreaking story of the uncle he never knew
Actor Charlie Lawson (far left) famous for playing the role of Jim McDonald in the TV soap Coronation Street spoke this week about his uncle John Glennie, a lieutenant in the Royal Irish Fusiliers who was killed in the Italian campaign in 1943. Born in Enniskillen in 1923, John Glennie attended the town’s Portora…
Read MoreTermoli plans monument, museum and documentary to commemorate the landings of 1943
Plans are being developed for a new memorial and a larger Second World War Museum in Termoli and a documentary film to commemorate the landings and battle there on 3-6 October 1943. The town and the surrounding area were the scene of the largest tank battle in the Italian campaign in the Second World War…
Read MoreRoyal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the Italian campaign conference to be held in November
A half-day conference about the role of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the Italian Campaign is to be held at the Inniskillings Museum in Enniskillen on Saturday 11 November. The event will also review the role of 38 (Irish) Brigade in the campaign. Speakers are: Chairman of the Inniskillings Museum Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Mark Scott…
Read MoreSergeant Edward Charles Mayo MM: champion recruit and natural leader
Edward (Eddie) Mayo, who worked at Ford in Dagenham before the Second World War, was conscripted into the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles (2 LIR) on 18th October 1939 and quickly emerged as one of the the battalion’s star recruits. Eddie Mayo and Mary Gibbs on their wedding day During the extended period that the battalion…
Read MoreRifleman Michael Foley- Irish veteran who died fighting in Italy
We have been recently contacted by the family of 7010933 Rifleman Michael Foley who served with the 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles (2 LIR) in Italy. He was married to Annie and came from Killann, County Wexford. According to the CWGC records, when he died on 11 January 1945, Michael Foley was aged 48, a…
Read MoreLondon Irish Piper Jeff Jeffrey remembers
We have been in recent contact with Jeff Jeffrey, who served with the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles (2 LIR) in Italy and Austria from 1943 to 1946. Jeff, who now lives in Australia, joined the LIR Cadet Company at the age of 16 in 1941 when he was first given the opportunity to play…
Read MorePiedimonte Etneo
One of the highlights of the Irish Brigade web site co founders, Richard and Edmund O’Sullivan recent visit to Sicily, was their attendance at a commemorative ceremony and conference in Piedimonte Etneo on the north eastern slopes of Mount Etna. For 33 days, from 8th September to 11th October 1943, the people of Piedimonte Etneo…
Read MorePreparing for the push to the Po on 24 April 1945
The plan for the day was as follows: The Brigade would pass through the bridgehead with as little delay as possible and, with the Inniskillings leading, would seize the village of Saletta. This was chosen as the first Brigade objective because the small village of Tamara between Fossalta and Saletta, had been occupied during the…
Read MoreThe start of the Irish Brigade’s final Italian battle in April 1945
5th Corps attack across the Rivers Senio and Santerno. April 9th dawned fine and warm by the banks of the Senio with the ground hard underfoot and a cloudless sky. It was ideal weather for the air forces to begin that process ominously known as “softening up”. The morning passed in comparative peace except at…
Read More