The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD and the British Prime Minister, David Cameron will jointly visit a number of First World War graves and memorials in Flanders, Belgium this morning.
The joint visit, where both leaders will pay their respects to those who gave their lives in World War 1, represents another key milestone in the deepening of British-Irish relations. The visit takes place as part of the decade of centenary commemorations of key events on these islands between 2012 and 2022.
The Taoiseach and the Prime Minister will visit a number of locations where soldiers in British uniform, including many Irish soldiers, fought and died.
The visit will include
· the Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines which is a memorial to the 50,000 Irish war dead;
· the grave of William Redmond, nationalist politician and Member of Parliament in the Irish Parliamentary party. He was commissioned as a captain in the Royal Irish Regiment, with whom he served 33 years. He went to France on the Western Front with the 16th (Irish) Division, in the winter of 1915-16 .
· the village of Wytschaete where the 16th (Dublin) and 36th (Ulster) divisions advanced together and fell in the attack on Messines Ridge;
· Menin Gate Memorial dedicated to British and commonwealth soldiers whose graves are unknown, and
· Tyne Cot Cemetery – the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war.
ENDS
Joint Visit to Flanders – Programme summary
0930 Mesen Peace Park visit
1005 Lay wreaths at Willie Redmond grave
1015 Brief call at memorials to commemorate
the 36th Ulster Division and 16th Irish division in Wytschaete Village
1050 Menin Gate visit
1130 Tyne Cot visit
1140 Taoiseach departs
Notes for Editors
Correction to Editors NoteSubsequent to the release of this press release, it was drawn to our attention that the explanation for the location of William Redmond's grave was inaccurate, and this had been carried in media reports.Further information on the life of Willie Redmond is available in the book "Willie Redmond: A Lonely Grave" by Terence Denman. Amended copy is contained below.Summary of Sites being visited
The Island of Ireland Peace Park and its surrounding park (Páirc Síochána d'Oileán na h'Éireann), also called the Irish Peace Park or Irish Peace Tower in Messines, near Ypres in Flanders, Belgium, is a war memorial to the soldiers of the island of Ireland who died, were wounded or are missing from World War I, during Ireland's involvement in the conflict. The tower memorial is close to the site of the June 1917 battle for the Messines Ridge and was chosen because that battle witnessed one of the few where Irishmen, regardless of religion, fought side by side against a common enemy.
The 36th (Ulster) Division was a division of Lord Kitchener's New Army formed in September 1914. Originally called the Ulster Division, it was made up of members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, who formed thirteen additional battalions for three existing regiments: the Royal Irish Fusiliers, the Royal Irish Rifles and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The division served on the Western Front as a formation of the British Army during World War I. The division's insignia was the Red Hand of Ulster.
The 16th Irish Division was raised September 11, 1914, part of the second wave of Field Marshal Kitchener's volunteer "New Army" divisions designed to augment Britain's six professional divisions. Kaiser Wilhelm II had described them as a "Contemptible Little Army." A granite cross memorial to the 16th Irish Division is located in Wytschaete Military Cemetery which is a post-war burial ground; the men buried here having been brought in from isolated battlefield graves in the Wytschaete area, or from a number of smaller cemeteries. There are now 1,002 servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 673 of the burials are unidentified, but there are special memorials to 16 casualties known or believed to be buried among them.
The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown.
Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. The cemetery grounds were assigned to the United Kingdom in perpetuity by King Albert I of Belgium in recognition of the sacrifices made by the British Empire in the defence and liberation of Belgium during the war. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war and has particular resonance in the British Military Tradition.