{"id":5128,"date":"2021-11-14T11:45:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T11:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/?p=5128"},"modified":"2021-11-15T19:48:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T19:48:18","slug":"remembering-bernard-o-reilly-a-soldier-of-australia-and-old-aughagreagh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/remembering-bernard-o-reilly-a-soldier-of-australia-and-old-aughagreagh\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Bernard O’ Reilly, a Soldier of Australia and old Aughagreagh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Bernard J O Reilly of Australia and Aughagreagh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Its a long way to Australia from old Aughagreagh,
\nWhere his family left from decades before
\nAnd the ladies he laughed with when he visited that day
\nShall enjoy his laughter and company no more.<\/p>\n

In Belgiums flat fields between Holland and France
\nWhich Germans had taken in 1914
\nHard won from the Worcester’s who won back Gheluvelt
\nThen tactically retreated from where John Dopping Boyds units had been.<\/p>\n

These men both of Longford extraction (the latter Orange, O’Reilly green)
\nFought on the same side under same flag facing same foe
\nWe look back today a century or more on
\nThink of their fight and his death long ago.<\/p>\n

It was not Reilly’s fate to survive that cruel war
\nDopping Boyd lived long to old age
\nSuch is life’s heartless blows in war where all is fair
\nIn a trial of endurance and rage.<\/p>\n

The parcel came back, what was left of his things,
\nTwo crucifixes, scapulars, pen and pellets of ink…
\nA few photos that brought comfort among the shots and the shells
\nOh, of what a future did he after the war for himself think?<\/p>\n

But there was one thing that his father desired to have
\nOutlined in the letters to and from from departments that crossed
\n(His father too had not long left to live)
\nAs his widow followed up the watch seemingly lost.<\/p>\n

How frail our lives in, even when not in war…
\nWe remember, a silent prayer say,
\nRemember the heros who died, for what did they fight?
\nRemember Bernard O’Reilly of Australia and Aughagreagh.<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bernard O Reilly grew up in Australia, to where his forefathers had emigrated from Aughagreagh in North Longford some years before. His memories of a visit home to the village of Ballinalee left an impression on him – as did the local ladies! – but alas the war took him at a place called Polygon Wood.<\/p>\n

He is not the only Longford connection to Polygon Wood.<\/p>\n

Another man of Longford extraction, this time an Anglo Irishman, was at the defence of the town of Gheulvelt, and the Worcester attacked from Polygon and took back the village in Halloween 1914. A rag tag auxillary unit was thrown together by John Dopping Boyd<\/a> who covered the Worcester’s tactical retreat, according to some sources for a number of days.<\/p>\n

After the war there was an exchange of correspondence about a watch of his which was lost, which is poignant as his father did not live to see it returned though his other effects were. Its these little things that matter when war reduces man to what he can carry in his pocket.<\/p>\n

He was but one of 5700 Australian casualties in those few days<\/p>\n

Ref:
\n* The battle – an outline<\/a>
\n* The unit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Its a long way to Australia from old Aughagreagh, Where his family left from decades before And the ladies he laughed with when he visited that day Shall enjoy his laughter and company no more. In Belgiums flat fields between Holland and France Which Germans had taken in 1914 Hard …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,20,4494,96],"tags":[4496,3591,4167,4377,4495,4497,389],"class_list":["post-5128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ireland","category-irelands-wars","category-the-great-war-war","category-war-poetry","tag-anzac","tag-aughagreagh","tag-australia","tag-irish-soldier","tag-polygon-wood","tag-reilly","tag-world-war-one","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-1kI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3803,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/when-they-stood-there-for-that-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":5128,"position":0},"title":"When They Stood There For That Photo","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"15th July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=exWwz1HEJFg When they stood there, for that photo Before my father was even born then Who is now but in a picture a face Did those women and men Wonder at the world to come And ponder the coming times of change Though they did not do this I think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Family Stories","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/family-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo taken of our family outside our home in Aughagreagh by Sean MacEoin, known to us as \"Tipper\" McKeon, when he was known as John Joseph McKeon...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Carty-family-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Carty-family-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Carty-family-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Carty-family-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5239,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/who-are-we-going-to-fight-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":5128,"position":1},"title":"Who Are We Going to Fight Now","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"21st April 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"As the British left, one man in jest Asked \"Who will we fight now\", All too soon was clear as many did fear It was a matter of when and how: For how could any man since the fight began See his island cleft in twain Not with rage choke\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Family Stories","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/family-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Battle of Clonfin as told by Auxilary officer Thomas Jocelyn Wilford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Battle-of-Clonfin-as-told-by-Auxilary-officer-Thomas-Jocelyn-Wilford.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Battle-of-Clonfin-as-told-by-Auxilary-officer-Thomas-Jocelyn-Wilford.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Battle-of-Clonfin-as-told-by-Auxilary-officer-Thomas-Jocelyn-Wilford.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Battle-of-Clonfin-as-told-by-Auxilary-officer-Thomas-Jocelyn-Wilford.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Battle-of-Clonfin-as-told-by-Auxilary-officer-Thomas-Jocelyn-Wilford.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Battle-of-Clonfin-as-told-by-Auxilary-officer-Thomas-Jocelyn-Wilford.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":592,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/sleeping-i-did-not-see-the-dancing-sun\/","url_meta":{"origin":5128,"position":2},"title":"Sleeping, I Did Not See the Dancing Sun","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"20th April 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Sleeping, I, I did not see the dancing sun, That my grandfather claimed each Easter to see, That is what you miss in life, When you lie till near noon, like me! The sun danced, the old folk believed, Because Jesus from the dead was risen... Sloth being the sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Celts and Celtic Heritage"","block_context":{"text":"Celts and Celtic Heritage","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/celts-and-celtic-heritage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"In nearby Aughagreagh, my grandfather got up each Easter morning, to see the sun whirl and dance in the sky.It was believed by his generation that it did, and my father told me of it when a boy. Off from work,a rarity, with fine weather, an even more rarity, through sloth and lazyness, I slept it out, and didnt see it, though it was my first Easter in the new house in the old county! 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This tells of a local house where the wife had a short tolerance after a certain hour and wanted the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "North Longford"","block_context":{"text":"North Longford","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/north-longford\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Our family in front of the home house at Aughagreagh","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Cartys-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Cartys-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Cartys-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Cartys-of-Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1480,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/sleuthing-for-the-german-reillys\/","url_meta":{"origin":5128,"position":4},"title":"Sleuthing for the German Reillys","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"21st February 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"ne of the tragic and most interesting things to come out of the Great War and the Second World War was the issue of broken families, servicemen from one side who married and\/or had children with womenfolk of the other side. One such man to fall for the Frauliens charms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4778,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/fireside-tales-told-at-halloween\/","url_meta":{"origin":5128,"position":5},"title":"Fireside Tales Told at Halloween","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"18th October 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Stories of North Longford families, Of folk then dead and gone - Were told to me when I was young By those who have now passed on... The woman and wains on the wall, The snarling dog neath the old womans bed... The rattling buckets in the sheugh... The tales\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Folklore and Legend"","block_context":{"text":"Folklore and Legend","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/folklore-and-legend\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.celtichosting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Aughagreagh.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5128"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5133,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions\/5133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}