A delegation of Connaught Rangers Association members, including a number from Boyle, will travel to Guillemont in France this week.
News of the trip, to mark the 100th anniversary of the capture of the village by the 16th Irish Division, was announced following Saturday’s launch of the diorama of the attack.
Journalist and Carrick on Shannon native Ronan McGreevy and Connaught Rangers chairman Oliver Fallon are pictured at Saturday’s unveiling.
The latest collaboration between Boyle’s Men’s Shed and the CRA is a very detailed model depicting the attack by the 6th Battalion Connaught Rangers on the German held fortification in the French village of Guillemont on the morning of September 3rd 1916.
The attack on Guillemont was one of the many engagements that made up ,what later became known as the Battle of The Somme that went on from July until November 1916 on the western Front in northern France and which cost so many lives on both sides. What is significant is that the Rangers successfully captured the village and one man Pte Thomas Hughes from Co Monaghan received a Victoria Cross for his part in the action. Significant locally is that a number of men from Co Roscommon, Co Sligo and Co Leitrim were present at the engagement and a number lost their lives.
This model depicting the attack is the latest in a very successful collaboration between the Connaught Ranges and Boyle Men’s Shed and an invitation is extended to all who wish to view the displays and the history of the Connaught Rangers in King House.
The spectacular diorama was constructed by members of Boyle Mens Shed including the late Padraig Butler who was laid to rest on the day the exhibition was unveiled.
