An Irish Veteran revisits the Horror of The Somme, 1966 

Thanks for the story! Bless...

My great grandfather was also a Canadian soldier in ww1. He volounteered

@Christo Genea You obviously aren’t well versed in how WWI began and for what. They stand taller than we because they were young lads who gave their youth to the calling of their country and thus resulted in a generation of strength and immeasurable courage. Show some respect and leave your conspiracies at the door.

@Christo Genea Evidently, you have not a single clue what the subject of conversation is. No one was talking about any of the subjects you were so eager to spew out and neither did anyone make a single mention of WWII or the resistance in any capacity. This is a video about a WWI veteran returning to the Somme, a WWI battlefield host to one of the bloodiest battles in history. Your irrelevant rambling more than adequately expresses your lack of education. Once more I’ll ask you to take your conspiracies elsewhere.

Grinding and being grinded for Kings and Kaisers. There is nothing to be proud at here. There can only be pity.

Your grandfather was a true man’s man

When u read the title what did u expect . Laurel and hardy .

@@edwardtanner6393 he’s not very bright...

Its called humour, you couple of dimwits.

@@yellowjackboots2624 bout as funny as a burning orphanage .

I never burned down that orphanage, i was miles away.

@Jenkem OD Right.

Absolutely right. Regardless of nationality.

@Jenkem OD .... If ww3 happens.

who'd have thought we would be going back to this kind of war. humans learn nothing.

Im am sure you would. Your just better educated as to the horrors and foolishness of war, mainly thanks to these young lads.

What if you had no choice? Don't underestimate the power of the human spirit. These men had no choice but to follow orders. Also, we have the gift of history but they never knew what to expect, until it was too late. Don't even mention desertion. Hell NO!

@@Chequr_Prostate Very true.

Ask Adolf

@@niallsheehan474 good point thou i think he took the hump more over not getting his paintings sold lol

@@niallsheehan474 wasn't his regiment wiped out like 25 times over or something like that?

you say that. But examine the career of one Carton De WIart. Won the VC, and a DSO as well. Lost an eye in Somalia went to the trenches, lost a hand, and was shot at least 7 times. in WW2 his plane crashed off the coast of Italy and in his early 60'S he swam ashore was captured and then escaped and walked over a mountain range to get back to the Allies. He survived the lot and died in Cork in his mid 80's. In his autobiography, he openly stated that he enjoyed the war and woldnt have missed it for the world.

@@williammohan9784 😶! Thanks, I'll be looking up some more information on that fellow. Not heard of him until your comment.

i got an eletric shock from the fencing at it!!! though on all seriousness its a very humbling experience at beaumont hamel

Join the club mate so did I.

It is indeed very humbling place. Three pairs of brothers were killed there with the Newfie’s, in about a half an hour.

By the way, if you are interested, that footage at 1 minute 51, show him looking toward some small trees on the horizon. That’s the site of the Hawthorn Redoudt. There is footage of a huge mine going off which is used all the time in Great War docus. That the location of it. And my grandad was attacking left to right in the fields where he is looking

@@williammohan9784 wow thats crazy that you know were you grandfather was in the attack, my grandfather was in the 1st inniskillings at the dardenelles last till june and was injured and lay for 4 nights in no-mans before being picked up by the bearers, he was patched up and was sent out to the somme for the 1st and was shot in the neck but lived another 3 years before dying from a cancer that developed in his neck from the bullet but he got the full military funeral and a cwg in my town

At 70 or so years old, I should think so.

How did British Empire attacking Germany in 1914, and again in 1939, give us anything to thank anybody for today? Two vicious bouts of genocide on Germans has given us human extinction in sight, and I see no reason to be thankful for it

Are you on drugs mate

@@chrismills5110 what right did germany have to invade belgium and secondly what right did germany have to invade poland, on both occassions the germans were too big for their boots, and when your done reading this go and watch "german concentration camps: actual survey" its available here on youtube, its was banned at the time after you watch it you'll understand

There are some strange folk on here mate. Like this loon, most have the historical knowledge of a chair leg

@@chrismills5110 take your meds buddy

Pity we don't have time machines to send a few back.

Agree totally, the weak(snowflakes)have indeed inherited the earth, it's a sad state of affairs!

No, they gave their lives for propagandised ideas of Nationalism and for the political gain of the British establishment. The "Snowflakes" you refer to are their descendants who know better than to subject themselves to another bloody war against "The Hun". I wonder, was J.R.R Tolkein a "Snowflake"? or perhaps Wilfred Owen? It's pseudo-macho ideals that push the young into the meat grinder

@@jonathangoldrick8279 No one ever wants war and I'm no historian but didn't WW1 and in fact WW2 actually start due to Austrian-Hungarian and German aggression respectively. My Grandfather survived Passchendaele by some miracle and no one should be expected to experience that. However, I think the point refers to the levels of disrespect shown by certain sectors towards the people who literally gave their lives to shape the way we live today.

Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men and weak men create hard times... Where's your generation in Hopf's world? Haha

There must have been so much survivor's for those soldiers who came back having seen so many of their friends and relatives killed. Many who came back from that war talked about it much until old age. They knew that that there was no way of properly communicating the horror of it all.

@@musicloverlondon6070 my grandfather was at bergen belsen on liberation day, my dad said he only ever said once about it and that was to say he was behind a camera man that was shooting film other than that he never spoke about it

Germans had to be stopped, unless you wanted them to take Paris

@mahnamahnadodoobedodo 😂😂 🤡

It was a family feud between the royal families of europe egged on by the Wall St Bankers. My great grandfather Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was killed 04.05.1917 2nd battle of Ypres leaving behind a wife and four young children.

@mahnamahnadodoobedodo Really, were did this eviction occur?

@mahnamahnadodoobedodo do you know why they were evicted any details??

I agree/ pity the Irish republic government never agreed / they were treated despicable/ brave men indeed

@@robertthomson9753 exactly mate

The Irish republic only came into being in 1921. Until then ireland was part of the U.K.

@@williammohan9784 and when it did come to power the way these brave men were treated was disgusting and it's only a few years ago the irish government gave apologies to the surviving familys / the irish leader sighned the book of condolence for adolf hitler only one of two world leaders to do so / shamefull

A lot of the Irish who fight in the Great War came back and joined the IRA. Emmett Dalton win the MC and was next to Collins when he was killed. Tom Barry of the IRA flying column legend served in the royal artillery after the Great War. It was the 70,000 odd men from the Irish republic who joined the British armed forces in WW2, who got treated badly after that war.

im not sure but theres stock footage of the bbc series "the great war"

@@whitetroutchannel is it from that series?

@@alanmcgibney1968 l believe it was a 26 part 1964 BBC and Canadian Broadcasting series,all black/ white . They were given away with the Daily Mail,free about 15 years ago. Not so sure,this from it.? I cycled the Western front 30 years ago, no sign of the carnage,except massive cemeteries every other kilometre.

@@paulkenneally789 many thanks for your reply.. 🙏👍🏼

@@alanmcgibney1968 you’re welcome.

Thanks for that information. Would you have a link for anything associated with your comment please? Well done sir.

Thank you Sir. There are any amount of books etc on Ireland in the Great War. I was a Brussels based battlefield guide of the great war up until three years ago.

Spot on sir, indeed they were

@@williammohan9784 william you should start a channel on some platform. Perhaps RU-vid. There is an appetite for clarity on this particular issue. Listenend to newstslk last night. A sports segment of all things riddled with slanted historical perspective on the anglo irish dynamic. Please consider this sir.

That’s very kind of Mr. Lynch. I have to admit, I was a guide for the Great War battlefields, plus Waterloo, Arnhem and Normandy, working out of Brussels for many years. But I quit two years ago and have since moved to Malta, where the history is all around me. My missus like you says I should do something like a blog or channel. But to be honest I am a tad lazy and just wish to now move about exploring this island at my leisure. But thank you so much for the kind words. Much appreciated.

Cosmetics is the worst. Also, many were lost in dairy. Innocent, but deadly.

I am not going to argue with the general sentiment, as the common man was clearly not benefitting from the system which led them to slaughter, but the Upper Classes and officers more actually suffered a disproportionately high number of casualties on the battlefields.

If Saddam was executed in modern times how the fck did the kaiser escape the gallows near on hundred years earlier. WW1 was over oil .....

@Sweet F_A Their sons did and credit to them but not the men who made the actual decision to start the war

@@jameshodgkins559 it wasn’t lol

It was a failed strategic plan and the leadership should be remembered and humiliated for ordering this as row and row of men were mowed down.

What, exactly is that supposed to mean?

@@Dreyno he had an education, you can tell by his speech patterns, knowledge changes accents slightly, educated people always sound different, by your question I know how you'd sound.

@@JohnDoe-ee6qs How do I sound?

@@JohnDoe-ee6qs that’s just how people S

wrong he was a doctor from county down

Do you think that no Irish ever went to university ?

hmmm there was a good push by the irish goverment just to let protestants in the south to fade away if you look at the protestant decline in the south between 1922 and 1965 the numbers are shocking

@@whitetroutchannel The same is happening today in the six counties but that has nothing to do with the free state government. When the north is re-united politically in the near future, you will find that the northern Prod, Loyalist, Unionist, British settler, will get better treatment than was afforded the natives during the past 4 centuries.

@@Londubh1 yeah real good treatment ive seen the treatment the e.u. wants to dish to northern ireland, they were prepared to even let the catholic and strong e.u. supporters die by invoking art 16. a direct attack on elderly, if it comes to an all ireland point i can assure you thatll all thatll be left up north is wrack and ruin much how the provisional i.r.a. done eveything in their power to destroy northern ireland id imagine loyalist paramilitaries will have the ranks filled and run much the same campaign only aimed at the southern goverment, now does joe murphy in galway really want to be shackled too that and have to pay for it like the british goverment did in the 70s and 80s, and one fact you neglect is the e.u. will have disbanded in 5 years, france will be out soon with le pen waiting in the wings, they left the italians out to dry during the pandemic theyll be wanting out infact when you look at a real world situation (not the picture drummed up by rte and the bbc) theres probably more of a likely hood in the free state needing to be reformed because you know who ireland goes begging too when the eu money isnt there .....

@@whitetroutchannel In a united Ireland the loyalists will do feck all. As for the rest of it I tend to agree with you. I'm anti EU.

@@Londubh1 just keep watchin the news mate you'll see lol

Thought I was the only one well pissed off with that ridiculous interruption called music.

Sounds like County Monaghan.

@@themsmloveswar3985 he was a doctor born in county down

Does it matter???

@@michaelking9772 Not to me.... but I fear too many others might think differently

True, the working class are mere expandable pawn who foolishly participated in their own self-destruction.

That's true. The previous Generation cashed-in on Westward Expansion and Colonialism. And couldn't see what it was like in those veteran's shoes. "The only way we could see the world was to join the Army." -As quoted by another Irish WW1 Veteran. "They realized that the Trenches were nothing like the open grounds of the Boer War." -As stated by a historian on RU-vid.

Owners of the Banks

Not the Brits mate, the Irish have always fought in the British Army for centuries. They made up the majority in it in the late 19th century. More Irish fought and died for the Crown than fought and died for Ireland. Even today the two Irish Regiments in the British Army are stocked with men from the Republic.

@@williammohan9784 yes and I believe Wellingtons. Army had they most. I. Know Wellington was. Anglo Irish. But. He still thought off. Home. Although at they time. It. Was all. Religion. Henry 8 done it all

Of the British army at Waterloo, the Irish were in the majority. In the later stages of the 19th century, the Irish made up over half of the British army.

@@williammohan9784 yes. And. A. Lot in. Command. I studied a. Lot. I'm. What u call a. Greek. Ha. But. I. Don't choose. I work on facts

Cheers mate

A bit like the men of 1914-1918 then. Replaced every few days, cannon fodder.

They'd tell you, join and you can see the world...some would join and then their brothers wouldn't let them go alone. There's was lots of that in Canada. NFLD, they say the newfies left as Newfoundland and came back as Canadians, it wasn't apart of Canada yet, Quebec thought it to be an English war and it's only ties through the British monarchy wasn't French. Yet men signed up. Id say the army sounds real exciting when your 18 and don't have to plow fields all day haha

The Irish have been ever present in the British Army for centuries. They made up the majority of the British contingent in Wellingtons Army at Waterloo. They have fought in all of the UKs wars. First VCs to Irishmen. First VC in WW1 to an Irishman, first in WW2 to an Irishman. To this day the Irish regiments in the British Army, the Irish Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment have a large number of men from the Republic of Ireland serving in them. Like i said at the top of the page, more Irishmen fought and died for the British Crown then ever fought and died for Ireland

A lot consider themselves British from ulster / many brave southern Irish fought in ww1 but were treated with contempt by there own government on there return/ it's not that long ago the Irish government apologised to the surviving families/ shamefull

ireland was a different place between 1910 and 1914, maybe you should do a little research before leaving ill informed comments

Robert Thompson,the Irish soldiers were treated badly by their own,that's true but that wasn't all the Irish were subjected to.Does the phrase,"No blacks,no dogs no Irish",come to mind.These were signs in the windows of B and Bs,in England during the 40s 50s 60s.Lest we forget.

No, he's Irish alright. Possibly an officer.

@Dennis The Golden God Reynolds I would say from Ulster province. Was he not an officer & a medic/a doctor? He referred to a Dublin man as one of "My" 'stretcher bearers'.

All Irish were British in WW1 ?

@@tent7014 All of Ireland was under British rule during WWI but there was a strong "Home Rule" movement in the decades before the war. However there was no Conscription in Ireland as it was opposed. All Irish combatants were volunteers and many were Nationalists who expected to be granted Home Rule after the War. Four years after WWI the Island was divided politically following conflict.

@mahnamahnadodoobedodo all irish were british (but the british termed them all irish) as the island was not split until 1921 and his accent is from ulster