Final verses of 'The Lad' by W F Marshal:
But A'm lonesome now for he went away,
An me sight is getting dim;
But I didn't ask tae hold him back
When they needed men like him.
He's sleepin now where the poppies grow,
In a coat that the bullets tore,
An what use is a wheen o medals tae me
When me own wee lad's no more?
'I turned over one poor chap on a rocky, bloody crag on Tanngoucha. He was facing the right way, the last round of a clip in the breech and three dead Germans in front of him. His name was Duff. After all is over - and the remainder of the Empire is understandably irritated with Ireland - I hope these countless Duffs, from both the North and the South, and in all three services, will be remembered.
(Brigadier Nelson Russell, Commander 38 (Irish) Brigade, 1942-44)
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- Inniskillings Museum
- Royal Ulster Rifles Museum
- Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum
- Royal Irish Regiment Museum
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