Sir, - Reading Kevin Myers's powerful article "On Flanders Field" (The Irish Times, December 30th) brought to mind an afternoon last summer spent in the War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge in Dublin. This beautiful and peaceful place is dedicated to the memory of the nearly 50,000 Irish soldiers who died serving in the British army in the first World War.
My husband (who is working on a book about the Irish in the war) and I were fortunate enough to meet the caretaker, Tommy Lindsay, who gave us a guided tour of the gardens and the four "book rooms," in which the names of the dead are recorded. We were so moved by our time in the War Memorial Gardens that we talked about it for the rest of our trip. Alas, it seemed that most people we spoke to had never heard of the gardens, and the few who had had never been to them. - Yours, etc.,
P. Phelan,
West 17th Street, New York, USA.