By Stephen Thompson

District director: Brendan o’sullivan / Editor: tommy martin

Research to date indicates that a total of 157 men from Killorglin Parish served in World War One, of whom 47 made the ultimate sacrifice. Killorglin men enlisted all around the world, as shown in the Table below. From a social history perspective, the list gives an insight into the level of emigration from Ireland at the beginning of the last century.

Service/Force	Total	Fatalities
British Army	73	27
Royal Navy	17	4
Mercantile Marine	1	0
Australian Imperial Force	24	8
United States Army	24	2
New Zealand Expeditionary Force	7	3
Canadian Expeditionary Force	5	2
United States Navy	3	0
Indian Army	1	1
Rhodesian Army	1	0
South African Army	1	0
Totals	157	47

This article gives brief accounts of three Killorglin soldiers, who served in separate theatres away from the Western Front.

---

Timmy Harnett

Timmy Hartnett lived in Langford Street, where he ran a saddlery business. He enlisted at Cork in the Royal Army Service Corps; and was assessed and rated as a “Skilled Harness Maker”.

Timmy was sent to the Middle East as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) making, among other items, saddles for camels.

At the end of the War, he returned to Killorglin, and resumed his leather working business.

---

Patrick Flynn

Patrick Flynn, one of three brothers from Stealroe, Killorglin, who served in the Great War, enlisted in the 1^st Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers. He was transferred to the 2^nd Battalion RMF; and was killed in action in Gallipoli on May 1^st 1915.

As a contrast to the cold statistics of war reporting, the following picture provides a human touch to the grim business of war. It is a copy of the inside cover of his Regimental Bible. At the bottom of the handwritten page, the poignant words “God help us” can be seen.

---

Raphael Joseph Power

Raphael Joseph Power was born in Clooncarraig, Killorglin. He was educated at Ampleforth College, Yorkshire; from where he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 33^rd Punjabi Regiment in the Indian Army. He left England in 1915; and was initially based in Quetta (modern day Pakistan).

Following a stint in Aden, his regiment was transferred to German East Africa in early May 1917 where they took part in the campaign against the German General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck. While there, he kept a diary that graphically described the struggles of the military effort in a very unhealthy climate.

He was killed in action on 19^th July 1917, aged 20. The diary was returned to his parents following his death.

Excerpts from the diary are given below.

• 

•