The names of more than 7,500 men and women from the island of Ireland who were killed in the Second World War are brought together in a roll of honour for the first time ever today.
Seventy years after the beginning of the global conflict, researchers believe they have finally achieved accurate details on the scale of those lost.
Dr Yvonne McEwen, from the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars, which spearheaded the research, said the roll of honour was long overdue.
“This is the first time ever in Ireland that the men and women who fought will be identified with their name, age, rank and regiment or branch where they served,” she said.
“Men from north and south fought together on the battlefield of the world with no distinction as to who was who and they need to be commemorated together.”
The roll of honour will be unveiled at Trinity College Dublin and a working copy will be on display for the public to read in the college’s library.
“This is long overdue,” insisted Dr McEwen.
“The men and women that fought are now in their 80s and they need some kind of appreciation for what they did for us, because the freedom we have today is because of what they did.”
Although the Republic was officially neutral during the war, 3,617 men and women from the south are thought to have died serving the British Armed Forces between 1939 and 1945.
Another 3,890 men and women from Northern Ireland died in service.
PA