The Things They Carried: Irish Soldiers in the Great War
2:00 PM
Keys Room, Milton Public Library
The Éire Society of Boston hosted a lecture, "The Things They Carried: Irish Soldiers in the Great War," by Dr. Thomas O'Grady, Director of Irish Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
The talk illuminated the experience of Irish soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force during The Great War of 1914–18 (World War I) by way of the poetry of Lance Corporal Francis Ledwidge of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the prose of Rifleman Patrick MacGill of the London Irish Rifles.
"Ledwidge and MacGill are remembered not because they were men of action who performed acts of uncommon valor but because they were men of words whose body of writing lifts the mask of anonymity from the 210,000 Irish men who enlisted to serve in the British Army during The Great War," says O'Grady.
The event was free and open to the public. A reception followed with light fare and refreshments along with live Irish music.