the 2nd battalion royal ulster rifles
famous Irish regiments
and
irish military history
website news
current website subject
Irish Recipients of the Victoria Cross
THE WEBSITE
Hello, and a warm welcome to my website news page.
I decided to add this page, so that visitors can see what is going on with the site and also what is new.
The Irish soldier in history. What is it about him that makes him so different from all the others? The question is complicated. Yet there is an answer. To find that answer we have to look back into Irish History itself. To understand the history of the country is to understand the Irish themselves. It is a brutal history and it is tragic. Yet from the darkness its people survived and they achieved many great things.
My aim is to create a comprehensive website about Irelands fighting men. Within this site there are chapters which start at the very begining of Irelands existance. The aim of this is to show where the 'fighting spirit' of the Irish came from. I am hoping to take these chapters right through time, to show all the conflicts in which the Irish have been involved.
I hope that one day this website will be finished and that it will be a fitting tribute to my countrymen who suffered so greatly yet gave so much. It will be a long journey, but i am in no hurry.
Finally, this website contains background music and film. If you wish to watch one of the many videos included on the site, the background music to the website can be either turned off or paused at the music box at the bottom of the Welocme Page.
I hope you enjoy the website.
I just had to add this piece of film of the Irish Guards
Family History Con..
If you are looking for the record of a relative who served during World War 2
these are located in Glasgow. The address is:
Army Personnel Centre
MS Support Division
Parliamentary & Disclosures Branch
Historical Disclosures Section,
Mail Point 555, Kentigern House,
65 Brown Street, Glasgow
G28 EX
Tel: 0141 224 2335
Fax: 0141 224 3172
You need to request a form, which is then allocated a unique reference number. Once you submit your form there is a wait of between 6 and 8 months. There is also a fee involved for this service which i think is £25.00
living history group
Go mbeannai Dia duit
Steve ( Mad Paddy )
Above, David from Co Sligo as Irish Guards
researchiing family history
Researching the military history of a relative can be a bit of a nightmare. There are many sites out there that charge a fee for a sneak preview of a possible record. I am not a specialist in this area, and there are certainly people out there who specialise in this type of investigation and information.
Maybe the following information might point you in the right direction.
Quite often, regimental museums are very helpful. They do not hold the records of indivdual soldiiers, but may be able to proivide more detailed accounts of specfic actions in the form of a Company of Battalion war dary. It is worth contacting the Museum in question to see if they can assist. Be patient as quite often museums are under staffed or run on a voluntary basis.
World War One records are held at the Public Records Office, at Kew in London. You can examine individual records there. During World War 2 and the Blitz in London, nearly 60% of the World War 1 personal records were destroyed by fire. However, there are many that did survive so it is a matter of luck that your relatives records are still intact. Sadly last year i received photocopies of the burnt remains of one of my relatives records. Any member of the public can visit the records office and view the data there. If you are unable to attend and view the records yourself, there is a service where this can be done on your behalf, but there is a fee involved. The other option is to hire a professional researcher like Richard Moles who will attend Kew and copy the requested records. There is a fee for this service, but it is thorough and very professional. Richard will take the time to go through things with you and will keep you updated as to the progress of his finds. You can see Richards website on the below link. It will explain the type of investigations he can conduct.
www.richardmoles.com
The most important aim of our group is education. In 2009 we attended various shows in East Anglia educating the public about the sacrifices made by Irish Regiments during WW2. This culminated in a large event in the middle of Cambridge City with a public attendance of narly 40,000 people over the weekend.
At the RAF Upwood ( Ramsey ) weekend we were joined by David who flew over from Ireland to join us. Davids relatives Johnny and Bernie, both Irismen,, served duing WW2 and are mentioned on this webesite.
The public are always interested to see us and there is a genuine interest in Irish Regiments, as we are the only group in the UK representing the Irish Regiments. Sadly over the last few months i have tried gaining some support and interest from the Irish Regiment Associations in what we are doing as a group, but no interest or support has been shown which is very sad. One can only try. The group continues to collect some unique exhibits, and the display grows all the time. We now have another area to our group, this being Lucy and Karens 1940s Home Front. The aim of the group is to demonstrate what life would have been like in Britain on the Home Front during WW2. The girls now have their own website which we are slowly putting together and this can be seen at www.thehomefront.webeden.co.uk
Membership:
We are always looking for new members, either to do Infantry with us or with the Home Front. So if you are interested please just drop me a line through the contact me page. It would be great to hear from YOU.
Mad Paddy
