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Showing posts from April, 2023
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  THE remarkable story of eight Sligo brothers who fought in the First World War Great-grandson traces history of Great War brothers-in-arms THE remarkable story of eight Sligo brothers who fought in the First World War has finally been recorded for posterity by one of the soldiers' great-grandsons. Brian Scanlon, a caretaker at Sligo Cemetery, grew up hearing the stories of how his great-grandfather Michael Conlon, along with his seven brothers, had followed the urging of the Catholic Church to take up arms on behalf of "Catholic Belgium which had been invaded by Protestant Germany". "I grew up with my grandfather Jack as my dad was away working in the Merchant Navy and my mum worked as an orderly in St John's Hospital, and all the time he would be telling me stories about what had happened to the Conlon brothers," Brian said. Yet with no official record of his family's contribution to the war, Brian decided to do some research into the sacrifices made