World War 1: What did they die for?

Over the weekend, I read of the unveiling of a plaque in Killorgin to local men who died in World War 1 and also of the President being in Liège to commemorate the start of the Great War.

I was reminded of my last visit to Killorglin where I saw this plaque in the entrance foyer of the Church of St. James. This did cause me to pause for a while:

• Three members of one family to die
• Two to die on the same date, one year after the other
• Two to die so close to the end of the war on 11th November.

Then last night, I received the latest blog from Patrick Comerford and was reminded of the futility of sending troops to charge against machine gun fire. Later, RTE showed My Great War where four members of the Conlon family died in the war.

If all of these are floating around my head, I might as well share them.

IN
LOVING MEMORY
OF
CAPT. J. O. C. DODD, R.M.F.
KILLED IN FRANCE 7TH NOV. 1918
BURIED AT ST. REMY

                                LIEUT. F. J. DODD, M.G.C.            |           LIEUT W. DE C. DODD, R.A.F.
                                    GASSED                                |                  KILLED IN AIR FIGHT
    DIED MILITARY HOSP., GRANTHAM   |                       31ST OCT. 1917
                               31ST OCT. 1918.                          |             BURIED AT MARQUOIN

BURIED AT GRANTHAM              |                                 

 
“GREATER LOVE THAN THIS HATH NO
MAN. THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS
LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.”

R. I. P.

Other World War 1 commemorative plaques on Irish War Memorials.

​UPDATE May 2025

An update that I spotted a while back on Twitter – I no longer post but still look in now and then
 
The Irish at War educates that:
Lt John O'Connell Dodd from Kilorglin, was killed four days before the end of WW1.He was hit by a shell when directing his Munster Fusiliers to the trenches. Dodd, an insurance clerk was the captain of London Irish Rugby Club.

Photograph from The Irish at War on Twitter