Marching to the Somme.

(From Irish Independent)

HERE we are then, an economically powerful and confident country, sufficiently grown up, we hope, to at last recognise the sacrifice our soldiers made 90 years ago, those 35,000 Irishmen in British uniform who died in the Great War.

In particular, today we remember those who fell in the Battle of the Somme which began on this day in 1916.

The fact that this turn of events should be regarded as somewhat remarkable reflects a slow evolution, driven in part by design, in part by chance. There is a peculiar condition called disremembering which afflicts us, the Irish, in particular. The word implies a deliberate, negative effort, rather than a mere inadequacy of brain cells.

Where the Great War and its Irish soldiers were concerned, the disremembering was a gradual, Alzheimer-like process, rather than sudden, collective amnesia.

For many years after the Great War ended, the Irish fallen were indeed commemorated. Over a period of time their memory was then deliberately soured and eroded.

In Northern Ireland, the massive sacrifice of young life was, and is, respectfully recognised. Moreover, the doomed young soldiers are brought to life and celebrated in song and literature, as in Frank McGuinness's play 'Observe the Sons of Ulster'.