The Princes of Wales's

John O'Neill VC MM ( February 10th 1897 - October 16th 1942 ) was a Scotish recipient of the Victoria Cross. He was 21 years old and a Sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment. The following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. " On the 14th October 1918 near Moorseele, Belgium, when the advance of his company was checked by two machine-guns and an enemy field battery firing over open sights, Sergeant O'Neill, with 11 men only, charged the battery,

capturing four field guns, two machine-guns and 16 prisoners. Again on the morning of 20th October with one man he rushed an enemy machine-gun position, routing about 100 and causing many casualties ". In 1940 he was commissioned into the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps as a Lieutenant. He died due to a heart attack on the 16th October 1942.

The battle-honours awarded to the regiment for its services during the Great War 1914-1918 are as follows:

Armentieres 1914, Ypres 1915-17-18, Somme 1916-18, Guillemont, Vimy 1917, Messines 1917, St. Quentin
Macedonia 1915-17, Gallipoli 1915, Jerusalem.

On the 4th July 1919 HRH Edward Prince of Wales became the Regiment's Colonel-in-Chief. He paid a visit to the 2nd Battalion at Colchester where he presented war medals. In view of the regiment's bond with Canada an alliance was formed with two regiments of Canadian Militia: 10th Regiment ( Royal Grenadiers ) from Toronto, Ontario, and the 100th Winnipeg Grenadiers, from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The 1st Battalion went back to India after the war in 1919 and was in Malabar, Madras, 1921-22, leaving in April
1922 for the Uk. The 2nd Battalion was with the Army of Occupation and arrived at Oppeln in Upper Silesia on the 5th of June 1921. It is recorded that the battalion marched from the railway station led by the pipes and drums
pipers wearing their caubeens and kilts.
Both Battalions made their last journey home for disbandment in 1922. And so ended the history of another fine Irish Regiment, but the Leinster's like all those other famous Irish Regiments will never be forgotten or the men who served in their ranks.

Many years ago, i went to my Grandfathers house with my father. His father lived near Trim in County Meath, Ireland. My Grandfather had passed away, and the small cottage he had built by himself was laying derelict and empty. He had named it ' Rose Cottage ' and had inscribed the name in the cement on the front wall. My father had returned there to have one final look at the place where he had grown up with his brothers and sisters in such harsh conditions in the middle of the country side. It must have been very sad for him to see the house in such a sad state and the few personal belongings that still remained were scattered on the living room floor. We had a search through the personal items that were a reminder of that life. We found numerous military buttons, Irish Volunteers, Australian and British. The three post cards shown are what i found amongst those items. Ned, my Great Uncle, who served with the Leinster Regiment , often stayed with my Grandfather. These are photographs of friends he probably served with in the Leinster's.
There were other photographs of men from the Leinsters which i picked up and kept but they had faded to much to display here.
The photograh right has a studio stamp on the lower left hand corner which reads
" 4 Coburg St. Cork "

 

If you would like to know more about the Leinster Regiment or the great work that is carried out by
the Leinster Regiment Association, click on either of the badges to enter the official website.