For 82 years no member of his family visited the grave of Willie Nolan. That all changed in June, 1999.
Willie had just turned 20 when a succession of events began that led directly to his death. Born in 1894, he had grown up to be a fine build of a lad, and a local policeman suggested that he should join the Royal Irish Constabulary.
This idea made sense. Willie's mother had died. Before her marriage to Michael Nolan of Tipperkevin, Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare, she was Mary Phibbs of Blackrock, Blessington. She and Michael had 12 children.
Unable to rear this large family while trying at the same time to make a living from the Tipperkevin farm, Michael married again, to Jane Curran of Rathcoole. She and Michael had nine children.
Willie did not take long to act on the policeman's suggestion. Clearly there was little future for him on the farm. So he joined the RIC.
Planning future
His first posting was to Clones. If at first he was lonely in that town, he soon did not lack company. A girl named Molly (surname unknown) had come into his life.
Within a short while the Monaghan lassie and the Kildare constable were making two plans for the future. One was that they would marry. The other was that Willie would leave the police and become a soldier.
Some men had gone off to fight in the Great War in response to John Redmond's call for volunteers; others had enlisted so as to fight for the rights of small nations; and Tom Kettle had given his life for "the secret scripture of the poor".
Love. That was what Molly and Willie had in mind. It was early 1917, and they reasoned that the war would soon end. Within months each participant would be coming home with a handsome pension.
After serving in France with the First Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, Willie would rejoin the RIC. Then, with money coming in from two different sources, the two young lovers could well afford to marry.
Before leaving Ireland in May 1917 for the first time in his life, Willie went home on an overnight visit. Next morning he left to catch a train at Naas, and Michael Nolan's last memory of his son was of seeing him striding down the road from Tipperkevin with his new army boots slung over his left shoulder.
In mid-June the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers moved up to the front. At 10.15 p.m. on Saturday June 24th, the battalion attacked a stretch, 170 yards in length, of German lines at Roeux, a few miles east of Arras. Later, the raid was officially described as "successful".
Private William Nolan (No. 26302) of No 3 Platoon, A Company, might not have agreed with the official version of the attack. Two officers were killed, and he seems to have been one of nine "other ranks" reported missing.
On the following Wednesday, the Kildare man who had made two plans with Molly from Monaghan died behind German lines. At the age of 23, he had given his life for love. Because he was a prisoner of war, he is buried, not in a vast military cemetery, but in the communal graveyard at Douai. With him are interred over 200 other prisoners of war from Britain, France, Indo-China, Italy, Romania and Russia.
Buried together
Three days after Willie's death, Corporal Charlie Haskett of the Northumberland Fusiliers died in German hands. He was aged 21. Charlie and Willie are buried together.
In the mid-1920s the parents of Charlie Haskett travelled from Chiswick, London, to Tipperkevin, just to spend a few hours with the father of the young Irishman who lies in the same grave as their son.
After that visit, hopes were raised that at least some members of the Nolan family would visit the grave, but deaths and a second World War intervened. The decades passed until November 11th, 1998, when President McAleese unveiled a plaque in the Peace Park at Messines in Flanders.
That unveiling, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth and King Albert, spurred the Nolans into action. In June 1999, 28 members of the family flew to Beauvais in France. From there, we travelled by coach to the graveyard at Douai.
Our group included Michael Nolan from Tipperkevin. Aged 81, he was born three months after his step-brother Willie died behind the German lines.
None of us had experience of an occasion such as this, and we were unsure as to the form our visit should take. Everyone, however, was determined to pay proper respects to a young man who, we felt sure, had brought honour on the family.
Beside Grave 12 in Row G, the group said the Rosary and sang Ag Criost an tSiol. A poem written by the late Rose O'Driscoll, sister of Willie, was read by her son. We sang Keep The Home Fires Burning before laying a succession of gifts at the grave - the Irish Tricolour, flowers, a St Bridget's Cross and an Ireland Italia '90 pin. Shamrock was planted, and Michael Nolan then scattered clay from the parents' grave in Tipperkevin over the grave of their son.
Minute's silence
The youngest member of the group said a prayer in Irish for Willie her grand-uncle and for Liam her uncle, who had been drowned at Ballyferriter in Co Kerry. Lawrence Binyon's poem They Shall Not Grow Old was recited, followed by a minute's silence in honour of Willie, Charlie and all the young men who lie in that graveyard at Douai.
Hail Glorious Saint Patrick was sung in Irish and English. Michael Nolan poured brandy for the group and sprinkled some on the grave. He remarked that, if he had known that there was going to be so much singing, he would have brought a second bottle.
After singing Amhran an bhFiann, and having spent almost two hours at the graveside, 27 of the group moved away towards the graveyard entrance. Michael remained behind for a few moments' private prayer by the grave of the brother he had never met. The date of our visit was June 27th. It was 82 years to the day since Willie Nolan died.