Members of the 18th Regiment of Foot Royal Irish Regiment (& South Irish Horse) Association had representation in Herlies, France to mark the 110th Anniversary of the Battle of Le Pilly where the 2nd Bn. Royal Irish Regiment suffered the devastating loss of 180 men, with almost 400 men taken POW between 19th – 20th October 1914.
The group were met at the Royal Irish Regiment Memorial in Herlies by Yvon Papeghin with the wonderful support of Cath Cat, Dominique Bascour and a large number of people from the community of Herlies to whom the Battle of Le Pilly holds a special resonance with.
It was especially lovely to see the children attend holding the regimental colours of the 2nd Battalion, as well as a special coincidental meeting with the great-granddaughter of Pte. William Foat, who had travelled from Liverpool to Herlies following some family research to see the place where William was killed.
A small ceremony that was held involved a brief description by Larry Scallan of some of the details from research carried out on soldiers involved in Le Pilly. Association Chairperson Kay Neagle gave a short address quoting “Our first visit to Herlies was in 2018 for the unveiling of this fine memorial, which is dedicated not only to the Royal Irish Regiment but to all who died in war. Since then we have been back on several occasions to walk this sacred ground. We now consider the people of Herlies to be our dearest friends. My heartfelt thanks must of course go to Yvon, Catherine, Dominique and everyone involved in the local history group, who continue to remember the men of the Royal Irish Regiment who fell in battle here in October 1914, these men lie a long way from home but never far from our thoughts. My dearest wish is that one day in the future the missing will be found and given the burial they do richly deserve. Until that day, we will keep their memory alive. There is now a field in France that will be forever Ireland. Thank you.”
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Association, the Association of Disbanded Irish Regiments, local representatives from Herlies, representative of the Kilkenny Great War Memorial Committee and by representatives representing the descendants of soldiers who fought in Le Pilly.
A lovely afternoon was then had with some refreshments, conversations and forging of more friendships and connections before a return to a section of the battlefield where they were invited by the owners of the former Station House to look at some of the visible bullet damage to the house from the exchange of gunfire in October 1914. Earlier in the morning, the group travelled to some of the local cemeteries where the graves of a number of Royal Irish Regiment soldiers lie, as well as Le Touret Memorial where the names of over 160 soldiers are recorded, who have no known grave.
