MAJOR REDMOND'S GRAVE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 85, 3 January 1918, Page 7

MAJOR REDMOND'S GRAVE

4 SHAMROCK AND HEATHER FROM IRELAND. A simple but moving ceremony took placo recently..at tho grave of the Into Major Redmond in the convent groundii of a littlo town not far behind tlio front, when a deputation from tho Redmond Memorial Committee planted on the grave a sod of shamrocks from Vinogar Hill. Tho deputation consisted of Mr. Nicholas Byrne, Mayor of Wexford, Mr. Myles Keogh, High Sheriff of Dublin, and Dr. James S. Ashe, secretary of the committee. Drawn up by tha graveside wore guards of honour from northern and southern Irish troops, limiskillings, and the Royal Irish Regiment, and in the small company present were British and French Staff officers, three _• American officers, tho Mother Superior, and a party of Belgian nuns, inmates of the convent, and a small number of interested spectators. Beforo planting tho sod from tlis hill of stormy memories, Dr. Ashe laid on tho grave a wreath of Irish autumn leaves and berries, and tho High Sheriff placed there a bunch of heather

picked by Mrs. Redmond from her and his beloved Wexford garden, with a strand of ivy leaves. In a short memorial address, Dr. Ashe said Major Redmond's mission had.been to unite all parties of Irishmen, and as the shamrock with its triple leaf had been used by Saint Patrick to typify the Holy Trinity, so it was put on Major Redmond's gravo as a prophetic symbol of the unification of the three contending Irish factions. He spolco impressively of tho fine cooperation of North and South Irish troops upon this front in the war for the world's liberty. Major Redmond might have had Staff appointments had lie wished, but lie preferred to «gr> over the top with tho men he loved and for Iceland's sake, and when hn gave bis life at Messines it was a pure sacrifice to the causo of Irish unity which he had so much at heart. The convent itself where Major Redmond is buried was a place which, with brother officers, he often visited, and 011 the refectory walls are the twin emblems of tho Red Hand of Ulster and the Irish harp painted by the • hands of the nuns. All tho circumstances of the simple ceremony were very touching and full of appeal to the imagination and finer Irish patriotism.