Ninety young men from one small country school in the midlands fought in World War 1 - and 104 saw service in World War 11. David Robertson, a history teacher at Wilson's Hospital School, Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, tells their story in his newly-launched book, Deeds Not Words.
In World War 1, he writes, "13 families sent 30 young men to the war. One can only imagine the mixture of emotions which their parents must have gone through - pride turning to anxiety, fear turning to grief as news filtered back from the front."
The book is published to coincide with the dedication of the Island of Ireland Memorial at Messines Ridge in Belgium. "It all began in the classroom," writes Robertson. "My Leaving Cert history class wanted to know why so many Irishmen enlisted for the Great War." His research started when they went across to the school's chapel and studied the roll of honour.
"The Irish soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought and died in the two wars have been airbrushed out of our history books as if they had never existed," he says. "I hope that by shedding light on this fragment of Irish history in Wilson's Hospital, our understanding of the larger canvass will be enhanced.
"From records in the school, one can determine the dates and campaigns of serving soldiers. Photographs add a third dimension." The book includes examples of private and public photographs, legal documents, recruitment posters, maps, newspaper cuttings and letters.
"The expressions of the young men who posed in those photographic studios 80 years ago are calm, collected and serious," Robertson writes. "But to the modern eye the photographs strike a discordant note. The faces are too youthful, too innocent of the horrors they were about to face. It is probable that the voices of some soldiers of this war had not broken when they enlisted."
Wilson's Hospital was founded in 1761. Today it has a student population of 330 with 20 full-time and four part-time teachers. It has pupils of all denominations with Church of Ireland students making up about two-thirds.
