HISTORY: A woman’s keen interest in Tipperary's heroes of World War 1

It’s a long way from Tipperary to the Somme, but a young Thurles soldier who made that fateful journey during World War 1 never returned.

Now, his aunt, who lives in Fethard, has been to France to pay tribute to his memory. And it has sparked her interest in the lives of 71 other Tipperary soldiers who died in World War 1.

9708 Private Owen Kiely, 6th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, was only nineteen years of age when he went to fight in the Great War of 1914-’18.

He was the older brother of John Kiely, who was a shoemaker from Ballycurrane, Thurles, and who had a stand in Liberty Square in the traditional market town of Thurles, and son of Patrick Kiely of Hall Street (now O’Donovan Rossa Street), Thurles. Owen Kiely enlisted in Templemore and joined the 6th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, which had been formed in Clonmel on December 6, 1914.

They stayed at Fermoy until September 1915, then went to Aldershot. In December 1915 they arrived in Le Havre in France.

Owen fought at the Battle of the Somme and was killed in action on Saturday, September 9, 1916, at 21 years of age.

He is remembered with Honour at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval.

And, he is commemorated in perpetuity by the  Commonwealth War Graves  Commission.

The memorial in Guillemont, France, in English and as Gaeilge, reads: “ 1914-18918 Do cum Gloire De agus Onora na h-Eireann (For the glory of God and the honour of Ireland).

“In Commemoration of the victories of Guillemont and Ginchy, September 3 and GHQ 1916 in memory of those who fell thereon and of all Irishmen who gave their  lives in the Great War R.I.P.”

Now, Mrs Kay Kiely Neagle of Fethard,  who grew up in Ballycurrane, Thurles, and who is the niece of Private Owen Kiely, has been lovingly researching the history of  71 other young men from Thurles who lost their lives in the Great War, young men, scarcely more than boys.

She has visited the graves and memorials of nineteen of the seventy-two brave young men from Thurles who made the ultimate sacrifice in the “War To End All  Wars” and are honoured in a memorial at St Mary’s Churchyard in Thurles erected by the prestigious Durlas Eile Ui Fhogartaigh  Memorial  Committee.

Among the graves she has visited was that of John Cunningham, the Victoria  Cross winner for gallantry, who died in Barlin Cemetery, France.

There is a memorial to Cunningham in Stradavoher, Thurles, which was erected by the Durlas Eile Ui Fhogartaigh  Memorial Committee.

Kay said: “I have never forgotten my uncle and always hoped to one day visit France and find his grave.

“On July 1, 2003, the 87th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, I placed a poppy on his grave at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, France. I was probably the first of the Kiely family to ever do so.

“This visit started for me a keen interest in finding out what happened to the  71  other men mentioned on the memorial at St Mary’s Churchyard, Thurles.

“So far, I have visited the graves and memorials of nineteen of those brave men who made the ultimate sacrifice. They include Cunningham, the VC winner.

“I think the Durlas Eile Memorial Committee did an absolutely great job with the memorial to the 72  young men from Thurles who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“It’s a credit to them. I frequently visit the memorial in St Mary’s and I placed Poppy Crosses there on November 11, 2005.”

I think that for a small town to have had so many men who died in the Great War is amazing. For whatever reason, they left for the War, and we should not forget them.

They are in graves across the ocean in France, and we have to remember themI would hope that my story might inspire others to go and visit the graves of their people who died in the 1914-‘18 war.

Young men who died young. Young men from a small Tipperary town that had only a small population at the time remember.

It was a great loss and tragedy for Thurles at the time to have so many of its young men killed.

I know I was the first from the Kiely family to make this visit to France.”Kay Neagle’s father, John, was a shoemaker, as was his father before him.

Her mother, Mary Gleeson, was from 21 Ormond St, Nenagh, where her brother Seamus now lives.