Remembering the fallen The medals of a Westport-born soldier who died in the Somme, but about which little else is known, have been brought back to his birthplace
Neill O’Neill DAWN had not yet fully broken when the decision was made to leave the safety of the trench in a futile attempt to gain some ground. The soldiers, who had been fighting relentless German positions at the Somme for four months, had no idea that one of the bloodiest battles in human history would be over in just three days – ended by something as trivial as a fall of snow.
The stench of death and gas filled the northern French air that morning as the soldiers crawled up across the slushy patch of land that commanders, somewhere, felt was worth the sacrifice of so many lives.
They had travelled almost 120 yards when, like countless others before them, they were scythed down in a withering hail of machine gun fire – the cause of the majority of deaths at the Somme.
A sergeant by the name of James Kelly was among those who died that morning, in the third winter of the war to end all wars. Last week, 92 years after his death, his memory returned to his birthplace when his war medals were brought back to Westport.
Very little is known about James Kelly or his life, except that he was born in Westport and enlisted in the Northamptonshire Regiment of the British Army before being sent to the front line in France and Flanders in World War I.
At some point subsequent to this he was injured and sent home to recuperate, but he opted to return to the front line upon feeling better. This decision would prove fateful, and James Kelly was killed in action on November 15, 1916, as the Battle of the Somme drew to a weary close.
Between July 1 and November 18, 1916, the Battle of the Somme raged in northern France, as Allied forces attempted to break through German lines along a 40-kilometre front north and south of the River Somme. On the first day of the conflict alone, the British Army suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, and by the time the weather intervened on November 18, there were approximately 1.1 million casualties to show for the ten kilometres of poisoned land the Allies gained. Among this number are tens of thousands of men who were buried in unmarked graves somewhere far from home, in ‘no man’s land’. It is here amongst them, beneath the poppies, that James Kelly lies.
The Thiepval memorial in France is the only place where James Kelly’s ultimate sacrifice is permanently recorded. Space on what is the largest British war memorial in the world is reserved for those missing, or unidentified soldiers, who died at the Somme and who have no known grave. There are over 72,000 names engraved on the 16 stone faces of the memorial at present, but later this year the name and honour of James Kelly and over 1,050 other soldiers from Mayo will be immortalised locally, when they are inscribed on the walls of the new Mayo Peace Park, which is due to open in October.
The story of James Kelly’s medals
Received as part payment for work in a house in Henley in Arden, in Warwickshire, Tracy Nicol-Thompson had the medals in her possession for three years, until last week. The medals were awarded to James Kelly’s family in recognition of his participation in many different stages of the war, while the large circular disc which bears his name is known as ‘The Memorial Plaque’, or ‘The Widow’s Penny’, and was awarded after the war to the next of kin of servicemen who lost their lives. Tracy believes that the medals left his family and found their way into many hands before she took possession of them, and as such the whereabouts of any of James Kelly’s descendants are not known. Though not rare, it is unusual to have a full set of medals for one soldier, and Tracy, unable to unravel any substantial information about James Kelly or his family, was poised to sell them at auction. It was at this point that Michael Feeney, a Castlebar historian and Chairman of the Mayo Peace Park Committee, convinced her that they should be returned to the people of Westport.
Tracy agreed, and two weeks ago Michael accompanied Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Declan Dever, and Claire Ryan from Westport Civic Offices, when they travelled to Wales to collect the medals. They will soon be put on display in Westport Heritage Centre as the quest for information about James Kelly and his life continues.
Anybody with information about James Kelly or his life or family in Westport, should contact Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Declan Dever, on 098 50400, or Clew Bay Heritage Centre on 098 26852.
The Mayo Peace Park –
opening in october
With around 75 per cent of the Mayo Peace Park built on Lannagh Road in Castlebar, the memorial is on schedule for an October opening. The names of Mayo-born soldiers and sailors that died in every major overseas war since World War I, and in other conflicts, will be inscribed on the black granite walls of the memorial, and ambassadors, dignitaries and military personnel will be in attendance for the opening, which Michael Feeney promises will be an occasion like no other in Mayo’s recent past. Names of men from almost every town and village in the county will be recorded at the peace park, and efforts are currently under way to trace relatives of some of the fallen, to get information on them.
For further details, or if you have any information about Mayo’s war dead, please see www.mayomemorialpeacepark.org, where you can find contact details and arrange to have their name inscribed at the peace park.
