Sir, – The late Dr Richard Hayes, estimated that the number of Irishmen who, between 1691 and 1745 were killed or wounded on battlefields, spent their lives as soldiers, or died in retirement, all in the service of France, was 480,000 men. The population from which they were drawn varied from over a million in 1691 to about two and half million in 1745.
When the Irish Brigade was disbanded, in 1791, the then members received a solemn promise that France would never forget their services.
President Sarkozy, it seems, has a short memory! – Yours, etc,