DUBLIN: Irish men and women who died in foreign wars, and on service with the United Nations, were remembered at the annual national day of commemoration ceremony in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, yesterday.
President Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and church leaders, were among the large attendance in bright sunshine. The heat was so intense that a member of the 81st cadet class on guard of honour duty collapsed, while three others had also to be given medical attention.
Mrs McAleese laid a wreath at the commemorative plaque, a minute's silence was observed and the Last Post sounded. Lieut Thomas Holmes raised the Tricolour from half-mast.
The Army band, under the baton of Comdt Mark Armstrong, of the Army School of Music, then sounded Reveille followed by the National Anthem. The Air Corps staged a flypast over the Royal Hospital.
The President had been escorted from Áras an Uachtaráin by a cavalry escort of honour under the command of Capt Micheál Conneely.
On her arrival, she inspected a guard of honour under the command of Capt Dermot Earley.
The Taoiseach, escorted by Maj Gen Seán Brennan and Maj Gen Dermot Earley, was met with a guard of honour drawn from the Fifth Infantry Battalion based in McKee barracks. At the Taoiseach's invitation, there were readings by representatives of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. In Irish and English, Mr Ahern said it was fitting they remember the dead from past wars or on service with the UN.
The readings were made by Chief Rabbit Yaakov Pearlman, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Rev Alan Boal, Archbishop John Neill, Rev Athanasius George, Rev Donaldson R Rodgers and Dr Ali Qirbi. Bernadette Greevy sang The Lord's My Shepherd and the National Anthem.
Also present were Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea, Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey and Minister for Social Community and Family Affairs Séamus Brennan.
• American ambassador James C Kenny and the Korean ambassador Jong Rak Kwon have been invited to unveil a monument in the village of Lixnaw, Co Kerry, tomorrow to the 35 Irish people who died in the Korean war in the 1950s. Some 29 Irishmen died while serving in the US army under the UN banner in 1950-53. Five of those who died came from Co Kerry along with five from nearby Co Limerick, four from Co Cork, and four from Co Roscommon. Three of those who died were from Co Mayo, two from Co Leitrim and two from Belfast.
