4451503 Fusilier Edward GRAHAM, 1st Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers: Rededication ceremony

A fantastically moving story about the twin sons of Fusilier Edward Graham, who was killed during the final advance of the Faughs towards Randazzo in the early morning of 13th August 1943.

Twins born days before their father was killed in action in Italy finally discover his fate after 74 years

"The fate of a British soldier who was killed in action in Italy during the Second World War has finally been discovered by his twin sons, who were born just 22 days before his death and never knew their father.

It has taken Edward and Sydney Graham 74 years to find out what happened to their father, also called Edward, who lost his life during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.

Edward Graham was serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers when he was killed in a German ambush near the village of Maletto, on the slopes of Mount Etna, on August 13 1943...."

I first came across the "Known Unto God" headstone for an Irish Fusilier at Catania CWGC on the very day in July 2014 that Edward Graham (jnr) first dropped me a note about his "missing" father.

Photo attached here shows Edward Graham in the uniform of the DLI with whom he joined during the 1930s....here's a short note I wrote recently about Fusilier Graham:
Fusilier Edward Graham – From County Durham to Maletto in Sicily.

Faugh a Ballagh !

Casualty Details | CWGC

 

Well done to all concerned.

May he rest in peace.

Steve Y

 

Great piece of work and like the website.

 

Fantastic news for the family,well done to all concerned.

 

It was a fantastically humbling experience to be asked by Edward and Sydney Graham to play a small part in the rededication ceremony for their father, Fusilier Edward Graham, this morning at Catania. So many friends and comrades of my own father are also resting here.

The service was conducted by Padre Ivan Linton and attended by the men of the Royal Irish Regiment.

 

well done and thank you for posting

 

A very nice piece by the MOD

WW2 fusilier's grave rededicated 74 years after his death - GOV.UK

 

There has also been an item on BBC TV news and it has been shown on BBC Ceefax.

Steve

 

I've heard that Robert Hall did a great job for the BBC news slot. It's been a treasurable friendship with Edward Graham over the past 3 years....

Other clips in the UK press.

British twins find second world war grave of father they never met

Soldier's grave visited for first time in 74 years by sons born days before his 1943 death

 

Just seen the article about this remarkable story on the national news - a great piece of work by all.

 

A fitting tribute to a soldier lost and now found by his boys....a moving story without doubt.

Robert Hall always presents these accounts with the utmost dignity.....one of the best presenters for these events....always covers D Day anniversaries superbly well.

 

Just a bit of further background.

My father, CQMS Edmund O'Sullivan, served with 2nd Bn London Irish Rifles in North Africa and Italy from 1942 to 1945 and I started to follow his path about 10 years ago. Myself and my brother would later create www.irishbrigade.co.uk based on his story.

In July 2014, I came to Sicily and was tracing some part of the journey that my father and his comrades in 38 (Irish) Brigade took from Centuripe to Maletto in early August 1943 and planned to go to the CWGC cemetery first.

That morning at the hotel just before I went out, I received an eMail (via the irishbrigade web site) from an Edward Graham highlighting his father's death with the Faughs on 13th August 1943. I didn't have time to respond before I went out to meet another son of an Irish Brigade veteran at the cemetery. We met at 9am and wandered the lines (200 or so) of Skins, Faughs and Riflemen and in the midst of them all we saw the "Known Unto God, Royal Irish Fusilier" headstone. That evening I was able to send a picture to Edward and confirm that only 3 Faughs were missing from the Sicilian campaign and each would have been killed around 15/20 miles distant from each other....Edward took it forward from that point.

I met Edward and Sydney Graham for the first time on Tuesday and took them to the area where their father fought near the Simeto river on 5th August 1943 and thence we drove along the Maletto to Randazzo road to where he was killed alongside his platoon commander, Lt William Bolton and Fusilier Thomas Baybutt in the early hours of 13th August 1943. Edward and Sydney asked me to read "For the Fallen" at the rededication ceremony yesterday.

Faugh a Ballagh

best wishes

 

I've been meaning to post on this thread since I saw the excellent coverage on the Beeb a couple of weeks ago.
Well done Richard.

Lesley

 

Truly awesome