Be Proud Of The Lads Of Millbrook

“Millbrook remembers – they gave their all for our freedom.” Here is a new installation in the Millbrook area of/just outside Larne, celebrating and commemorating the sacrifice of locals who lost their lives while serving the British forces during the World Wars.

The Great War 1914-1918:
“Be proud of the lads of Millbrook, who at the bugle call/put on the Country’s armour and rushed to duty’s call
They have gone to beat the Kaiser, we are sure they will succeed,/To drive him out of Flanders, And Belgium shall be freed!
Their names shall live in history, Their names we will adore,/And Ulster shall be proud of them, when they return once more.”

On the left are three medals: Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred (that is, the 1914 Star, for service in France or Belgium, the War (service) medal, and the Inter Allied Victory medal) (Identify Medals), with the ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ on the right.

The names on the headstone between the two World War panels are [from WWI] John Blair, David Linn Ritchie, Robert Erskine, Wesley Campbell, James Steele, Samuel McKay, Robert McFall, Thomas Kirkpatrick, Samuel George Mathers, Charles McNally, William John Kirkpatrick, Daniel McMichael, [from WWII] Cyril Cecil Whitley, William Magee. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you – Deuteronomy 31:6”

Second World War 1939-1945:
“Here inscribed the names of friends we knew, Young men with whom we often flew
Scrambled to many angels high, They knew that they or friends might die
Behind each name a story lies, of bravery in summer skies;
Though many brave unwritten tales, were simply told in vapour trails
Many now lie in sacred graves, and many rest beneath the waves
Outnumbered every day they flew, Remembered here as just ‘The Few'”

The medals on the right are the Burma Star, Defence Medal, and the War Medal, with the RAF brass cap badge on the left.

Drumahoe Gardens, Millbrook, Larne, replacing the tribute to Sergeant John Kernohan seen in A Fighter For Our Freedom.