Local family remembers war ancestor
A large crowd of family members, friends and interested onlookers gathered at Monsea Graveyard on Sunday April 23rd at 6.30pm as the Gill family commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the death of their relative, Captain Noel Gill.
Noel, of Fatheen outside Nenagh, served with the 18th Battalion, Manchester Regiment. He died at the Battle of Arras in northern France on April 23rd 1917. He was just 20 years old.
His closest living relative, Major Bob Noel Gill (United States Marine Corps, retired) from Hurst, Texas, unveiled a stone memorial in his uncle's honour, and local musician Ollie Grace played a beautiful rendition of the Last Post on the bugle. The Defence Forces of Ireland were represented by Paddy Brosnahan and Martin Kiely of the Irish Naval Association, while Corporal Paudie Burke entertained the large crowd playing tunes such as 'Slievenamon' and 'She Moved Through the Fair' on the bagpipes.
Noel's alma maters of Blackrock College and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland were represented by young Harry Flynn and surgeon Paul Burke, respectively.
Earlier in the weekend the many overseas guests from the US, UK, Belgium and Australia enjoyed a walking tour of Nenagh given by Kevin Whelan, and history lectures on various subjects. Among these were lectures on the Gill family's strong links with the Roosevelts (given by Rob Gill), an excellent account of the life and times of Peter E Gill, aka 'The General' of the Tipperary Advocate newspaper (given by Dr Des Marnane), and a comprehensive account of the Gill family's involvement in the First World War and subsequent history (given by a grandnephew of Noel's, local veterinary surgeon Dr Declan Gill).
The large crowd present in the upstairs function room of the Peppermill restaurant in Nenagh listened to recounting of letters written home by Declan and Rob's own grandfather, Owen, who was wounded in Gallipoli in 1915. Most poignantly, the last letter written home by Noel on April 21st – two days before he was killed in action – was read out.
The last words of the moving ceremony in Monsea were given by Noel's namesake, his grandnephew Professor Noel Gill, London, who read out the magnificent obituary to his granduncle, written by 'Amicus' and printed in The Nenagh Guardian after his death.
The Gill family wishes to thank those who helped make the weekend such a great success, including: Dr Des Marnane, Donncha Corrigan, Kevin Whelan, Donal and Nancy Murphy, Morgan Murray Stoneworks, Ollie Grace and Paudie, the staff of the Peppermill Bar & Restaurant, The Zip Yard in Nenagh, Rocky's Bar, Tom Dowling and all the staff at Nenagh Arts Centre, and all those who attended the weekend's events in such large numbers.
The final words of Noel's obituary in the Guardian read as follows: “Of him and the other gallant Nenagh men who fell in their hundreds during the First World War, it can be truly said:
Their gallant bones may broken lie
Their bones may bleach beneath the sky
But their souls I know will never die
They march in a deathless army.
To his sorrowing family we tender our sincerest sympathy in their bereavement. They have lost a dutiful son and loving brother, and we a friend who can never be replaced.
May the sod of Flanders lean lightly on his manly Irish heart.”