OPINION (AN COLÚN): A poignant day in Lorrha remembering a tragic time

SATURDAY the 6th of August, 2022 was a very special day in the lives of the people of Lorrha when, after years of lobbying and months of hard work, Martin O'Meara's famous Victoria Cross medal went on display in the village.
That special day returned to my mind when I was attending the visit of the Australian Ambassador to Ireland, Chantelle Taylor, to the village last week. Her Excellency's visit was a poignant occasion as excellent speeches were given, traumatic moments in history were revisited, powerful poems were read and songs were sung. As I listened to Tom Kettle's powerful poem exposing the nightmare and madness of war and to the excellent lyrics of The Green Fields of France my throat constricted and silent tears were shed. Thinking about the horrific slaughter of millions of young men and the stupidity, madness and greed which led them to the killing fields often has that effect on me.
Many of us thought we would never see trench warfare return to Europe and yet we are seeing it now in Eastern Ukraine where once again young men are being treated as if their lives were valueless and are being used as cannon fodder. The cause of the trench warfare in Eastern Ukraine is the same as the cause of the trench warfare in the killing fields of France - namely, the imperialist spirit, a corrupt system, a macho attitude and a burning desire for land acquisition. History is being repeated, driven by the ugly spectre of despotism.
On August 6, 2022, we were told that the day had been in the planning process since July 2019 when the medal arrived in the National Museum in Dublin. The Australian Government had made an amendment to the Protection of Moveable Cultural Heritage Act to allow the “temporary export of important cultural artefacts.” The change in this law meant that the VC could be loaned to Ireland. A number of people from the village travelled up to the Museum to welcome the VC to Ireland's shores and began lobbying for the medal to be brought down to Lorrha before it returned to Australia in August 2020. However, Covid put the medal's journey on hold for a couple of years. The Australian Ambassador at the time, Gary Gray, visited Lorrha on two occasions, in 2021 and 2022, and assured the committee that the medal would be brought down to the village. And so it transpired.
Gary Gray told the August 2022 gathering that Martin O'Meara is held in very high esteem in Australia. “Martin won his medal for saving the lives of his fellow soldiers, by going out into No Man's Land time and time again under withering fire, and bringing in his wounded comrades. He was obviously a deeply humanitarian man and his deep concern for the wounded led him to risk his own life again and again. His story is a beacon of light during a terrible time.” The Ambassador spoke of the “scourge of war” and the harm, the damage it does to innocent people. “Today's service is a commemoration of all the good things Martin O'Meara did in his life.”
The names of the men from the Lorrha and Dorrha parish who died in Gallipoli were read out. These were Lieutenant Colonel George Butler Stoney, and Second Lieutenant James Vernon Yates Willington. The names of the men of the parish who served with the ANZACs and who died in the Great War were also read out: Lance Corporal George Johnston Byrne; Private Michael Francis Donahoo, Private Patrick Houlihan, Private Thomas Houlihan.
Tom Kettle's emotive poem “To My Daughter Betty, The Gift of God” was read: “Know that we fools, now with the foolish dead, / Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor, / But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed, / And for the secret Scripture of the poor.”
Seamus King, the well known author and past student of Redwood School, spoke on the life of Martin O'Meara. “For many years after his death,” Seamus concluded, “Martin was forgotten. Forgotten because it was a changed Ireland, politically, where those who fought in World War One were not only forgotten but were frowned upon. Happily, that situation has now changed. It is wonderful and fitting to have Martin's VC on display here in the parish, for however brief a period.”
The cross was briefly put on display beside the village's memorial to Martin on the main street. Then it was displayed for a few hours beside the former Dominican Abbey in the grounds of St Ruadhan's Church. Finally, during the afternoon, it was displayed at Martin's former homestead, at Lissernane near Lorrha. In the evening the locals said farewell to the cross which was brought by members of the Australian Army and the Irish Defence Forces back up to Dublin; and was flown back to Australia the very next day.
Martin O'Meara was awarded the VC for his actions between the 9 - 12 August 1916 at Pozières during the Battle of the Somme. He was a Forward Scout acting as a stretcher bearer, and during these four days he repeatedly went into No Man's Land and brought in wounded officers and men under heavy artillery and machine gun fire. He also volunteered and carried ammunition and bombs through heavy fire to a portion of the trenches which was being heavily shelled at the time. On the fourth day he was wounded in the stomach and was evacuated to England and admitted to Wandsworth Hospital on 19 August. Mentally, he was terribly scarred by his experiences in the trenches and after the war he spent the remainder of his days in various psychiatric facilities.