Veteran of Great War dies at 102

Ireland's last first World War veteran, Mr Thomas Shaw, has died aged 102.

Ireland's last first World War veteran, Mr Thomas Shaw, has died aged 102.

Mr Shaw, from Belfast, joined the 16th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles in 1916. He died on Saturday and was buried yesterday at Clandeboye Cemetery in Bangor, Co Down.

He first enlisted as a rifleman at 15 but was sent home after his brother, a military policeman, met him accidentally while in France. Mr Shaw again joined up as the Battle of the Somme ended.

He was sent to France and fought at Messines, Ypres, and Passchendaele. He returned to the North in April 1919. Mr Sam Girvan, the manager of the Clanmill Housing Association, which runs the accommodation block where Mr Shaw lived, said he didn't like a fuss being made about his years of service.