Address by Seamus J. King at Lorrha on Saturday, May, 2, 2015 on the occasion of the Civic Welcome to mark the visit of Cr. Wayne Sanford, President of the Shire of Collie, Western Australia.
Cathaoirleach of Nenagh Municipal District, Councillor Fiona Bonfield, Chairperson of Lorrha Development Association, Rose Mannion, Distinguished Visitor, Councillor Wayne Sanford, President of the Shire of Collie, Western Australia, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is an honour for me to be asked to address you on the occasion of the visit of our distinguished visitor from Collie, the place where our most famous and honoured emigrant, Martin O'Meara, first went to work as a sleeper-layer on the new railway line from Perth to Collie, following his arrival at Freemantle in 1913.
When I looked up the internet recently to acquaint myself with Collie, I discovered that it was once referred to as a 'dirty mining town' but on April 8, 2006 it won the Australian Tidy Towns Competition from finalists from six States and the Northern Territory. Collie was named the top Tidy Town because of the commitment of the community to recycling, waste management, beautification and community works. I mention this by the way because I know of the efforts of the Lorrha Development Association and other groups in this parish to make their place a tidy and more attractive place to live.
From small beginnings on a small farm of twelve acres in Lissernane, where economic prospects were meagre, Martin O'Meara performed heroic acts in World War 1 and won a Victoria Cross 'for most conspicuous bravery'. One of a family of eleven children, seven of whom lived, Martin was the second-last to be born. He left the bosom of his family, the security of his friends and the comforts of his own place to travel into the unknown, first to Liyerpool and then to Freemantle, Western Australia, where he made his way in an unknown land, 10,000 miles from his own place.
On that journey to Australia he showed some of his steely quality when he worked his passage as a stoker of the ships's furnaces for the three-month passage. 'The hardest task in my life,' he was to say later, 'was shovelling coal to the boilers on that three months' voyage'
It appears he landed in Australia in 1913 and got ajob soon after as a sleeper-layer on a new railway line through the bush at Collie, east of Perth.
We don't have much of a profile of the man. According to an account given in a newspaper after he was proposed for a Victoria Cross, he appeared to have been 'a somewhat lonely Irishman battling his way in a new land. His friends and associates were, seemingly, few and far between, but these with whom he became intimate regarded his as a sterling friend and a man of worth.' The profile further states he was a strict teetotaller and staunch Roman Catholic. 'He is seemingly a man who seeks friends but is most discriminate in their selection. He is a fine stamp physically hardened by work in the open and weighs in the vicinity of 12 or 13 stone.'
Why he decided to enlist in the Australian army and enter training camp in August 1915, we don't know. Was it out of a sense of loyalty to his adopted country or was it the same spirit of adventure that took him to Liverpool initially and finally to Perth? We don't know. We get some inkling from some words he spoke when he rturned to Ireland for a brief visit in October 1916. He said he entered the war with the belief that it was his duty to answer the call to assist the Allies in their great struggle and any distinction he had won, it was won in the discharge of his duty to his country.
What we do know is that he committed himself to the training required to become the best of soldiers. His journey to the battlefield took him to Egypt for training with his unit the 16th Battallion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIL) and then to France. Life in Egypt was fairly pleasant. One soldier wrote to his mother: 'I am a different man now that I have lost all superfluous flesh and am as hard as nails and as brown as a well-done peanut.' We can imagine Martin at a peak of physical fitness as he embarked for France.
Having landed at Marseilles the soldiers went by train to the Front, a journey that lasted nearly sixty hours, broken up by a number of stops along the way. At these stops they were greeted by a very friendly French population who showered them with food and drink. We have no account of how Martin responded to the adulation but the good times would soon cease and he had to face the horrors of war.
As soon as the 16th Battalion arrived at the Front to join the British Expeditionary Force, they began to prepare for combat as preparations were already in hand for the Somme offensive. The intent behind this was to break through German lines and, by involving the Germans, help the French army under strong attack at Verdun. Commander-in-Chief, Haig, believed he had the secret of a successful allied attack. He hoped that by bombarding the German lines for a week beforehand with heavy artillery the Allied force would destroy all the defensive fortifications of the enemy. Then it would be a simple matter of the soldiers coming out of their trenches and crossing 'No Man's Land' to mop up any of the enemy still alive.
In fact the artillery shells had no effect on the German concrete bunkers and the barbed wire just blew up in the air and came down a more entangled mess than before. As the Allied soldiers advanced in straight lines across 'No Man's Land' they were mercilessly raked with machine gun fire. Twenty-thousand men were killed and forty thousand taken prisoner on the first day. Until November, when the suicidal attacks were called off, the allies persisted in trying to achieve the impossible.
The action around Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in which Martin O'Meara was involved, was part of these suicide missions. He was lucky to survive. A suicide mission is the only way to describe the activity in the area during the period of August 9-12, 1916. During these four days of heavy fighting Martin O'Meara, a stretcher bearer, repeatedly went out and brought in wounded from no-man's land despite intense artillery and machine-gun fire. He was busy during the whole series of operations, especially in the critical barrage and counterattack period. Four times he carried water and supplies forward under bursting shells and then returned carrying wounded. On one occasion he volunteered to carry ammunition and bombs to a portion of trench which was receiving heavy shelling.
He was wounded on August 12th, 1916, just after performing the above-mentioned acts. However, he remained on duty and wasn't admitted to the 12th Field Ambulance until the following day. He was diagnosed with a gun shot wound to the abdomen and shipped back to hospital in England.
As a result of his heroic actions he was recommended for the Victoria Cross on August 16. The recommendation stated: 'For most conspicuous bravery. During four days of very heavy fighting he repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers and men from 'No-Man's Land' under intense artillery and machine gun fire. He also volunteered and carried up ammunition and bombs through a heavy barrage to a portion of the trenches, which was being heavily shelled at the time. He showed throughout an utter contempt of danger and undoubtedly saved many lives.' He was awarded the Victoria Cross the following month.
What inspired Martin O'Meara to such endeavour, to such conspicuous bravery, to absolute disdain for danger? We do know that his fearless courage was fuelled by a deep religious faith. All who knew him testify to the important part religion played in his life. When he left for Australia his mother gave him a rosary beads which he carried at all times during the war. He said afterwards that 'twas the rosary that saved my life.' He had absolute faith in the protective power of faith. At Mouquet Farm, prior to going out to bring in the wounded he said a decade of the Rosary and this imbued him with the belief that he was going to return alive. He didn't see the danger fear the shells or flinch from the gunfire as he went about his business as a stretcher bearer and he always returned to base alive, even if he received the occasional wounds. He was also inspired by the love of his fellow man, the camaraderie of the group. He may not have made many friends but those he did, he was prepared to die for them.
Martin O'Meara was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George in London on July 21, 1917. There are a few seconds of film footage which recorded this momentous event for the humble son ofLorrha. He had scaled the heights through personal effort and unnatural courage.
His achievements were recognised in Australia where his former employer described him as being generous to a fault and that no obstacle caused him to sidetrack and that he possessed an exceptionally powerful physique: 'It is not hard to picture him rushing out into 'No Man's Land' and returning with a man under each arm' the employer added. The West Australian parliament 'moved congratulations' to him on his award. The
people of Collie sent him a congratulatory cable.
He was also honoured in Ireland. The North Tipperary County Committee of Agriculture stated at their monthly meeting that they wished 'to express to Martin O'Meara, V.C. our great admiration of his bravery and to congratulate him on gaining the V.C., the highest honour that can be offered to any soldier. We, as Tipperarymen, are proud of him and hope soon to give him a suitable welcome and show our appreciation of the honour he has won. We hope that he will soon be recovered enough to return to his native country.'
Martin O'Meara eventually got back to Lorrha on a fortnighht's leave in October 1916. One account descibes his return: 'The modesty of the man is to be seen in the mode of his homecoming. His family expected him but did not know the exact date of his arrival. He got off the train at Birr Station and walked home - about five miles - in the darkness, along the disused Birr and Portumna railway line which passes close to his home. No one recognised him at the station or along the way. He opened the door and walked in, surprising his brother and sister inside. At the end of his leave he returned almost as quietly as he had come.'
A formal homecoming was arranged for Lorrha on November 24 to present him with a gold watch. But it was like Hamlet without the prince: O'Meara had already returned to London, where he immediately volunteered again for active service. He rejoined his battalion in December, was injured soon after, He was injured again in April 191 7 and was wounded a third time in August after which he was moved to Bath War Hospital.
He was given furlough in October 1917 and returned to Lorrha for a couple of weeks. His reception was very different to what he had experienced a year previously. The political climate had changed in Ireland during 1917. The prisoners from the Easter Rising, who had been spat upon in the streets of Dublin as they were led off to internment in Wales in 1916, returned as heroes at Christmas. All had changed and people like O'Meara, who had been lauded for their courage and bravery, were now looked at askance in the new nationalism.
There was a second factor. O'Meara was beginning to show some of the signs of insanity which was eventually to rule his life. His behaviour appeared strange to the locals. He insisted on wearing the AIF uniform and the famous slouch hat. Instead of generating admiration for O'Meara and his exploits, the locals came to regard him as an oddity and an outsider. He attended a number of threshings but usually found himself on the outside, without much rapport with his neighbours and a curiosity to his friends. Eventually he got the message that he wasn't part of the community anymore and returned to his battalion earlier than intended. There is anecdotal evidence that on the evening he departed he stood to attention on the sandpits near his house, waved his hat all around for he knew he would never see his native place again.
He rejoined his battalion in France in January 1918. He was promoted Sergeant in August and received a British War Medal and a Victory Medal. He returned to Australia in September and disembarked there in November.
A month later he was diagnosed as 'suffering from Delusional Insanity, with hallucinations of hearing and sight, is extremely homicidal and suicidal and requires to be kept in restraint. He is not hopeful of his recovery in the near future.'
He was admitted to Claremont Mental Hospital as an insane patient on January 3, 1919. He was discharged from the army on November 30 of the same year and died on December 20, 1935. His funeral, which was officiated at by Fr. John Fahey, Clonoulty, received prominence in the Australian newspapers and his name has never been forgotten in that country. There is a photograph in my book from the West Australian newspaper of April 29th, 2010 showing a picture of Martin O'Meara being carried in a parade of other VC winners on ANZAC Day.
Martin O'Meara's extraordinary courage and superhuman exploits were not only forgotten but frowned upon, even derided in the political atmosphere of post-1916 Ireland. It has taken close to a century for his greatness to be recognised in Ireland and for his admirable personal qualities to be given the recognition they deserve. The erection of this memorial to him in the village of Lorrha was the first step to undoing the major failure to recognise that great courage and superhuman endeavour deserve to be applauded and honoured. Today's events, which are graced by the presence of our distinguished visitor, President Wayne Sanford, is a further step along the road to full recognition of the extraordinary narrative of the life of Martin O'Meara, V.C., Lissernane, Lorrha, who has made us all proud to be natives of this place.
Thank you for your attention.