THIS FRIDAY, 14th February, John and Sonny Condon, relatives of John Condon, the youngest Allied soldier to die during the First World War, will lay wreaths on his grave in the Poelkapelle Military Cemetery and at the Menin Gate War Memorial in Ypres, Belgium. John Condon, of Abbeypark, Ferrybank, is a nephew of John Condon. Sonny Condon is the son of John’s cousin, Nicholas, who also joined the British Army but survived the war and returned to Waterford.
John Condon was born in Waterford, near Ballybricken, about the turn of the last century. He was working as a boy bottler before the outbreak of war. Perhaps a sense of adventure drew him into the armed forces; perhaps it had to do with his mother’s death in 1912. It is possible he was influenced by the leader of the Nationalist Party, John Redmond, MP for Waterford. It is certain that he was under military age when he enlisted, although no notice was taken of this until after his death.
He was posted in December 1914 to the Second Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment and moved to Flanders. On 22nd April 1915, the Germans opened their second attack on Ypres with a devasting new weapon - chlorine gas. The battle lasted about a month, and ended after a final desperate assault on 24th May 1915, when the Germans, exhausted, suspended offensive operations. John Condon lay among the dead, although his body was not recovered until 1923 when it was re-interred in Poelkapelle Cemetery. The only personal item returned to his family was a piece of boot bearing his regimental number -6322. The stone erected to his memory in Poelkapelle by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records his age as 14, and he is said to be the youngest Allied soldier to die in the First World War
The trip has been organised by the International School for Peace Studies, FÁS and The Department of Foreign Affairs. It is intended to rename the Peace School in honour of John Condon in the near future.
During their trip the Condons will also meet with representatives of the Belgian government, will visit the Messines Peace Park, opened in 1998 in honour of Irish soldiers who fought and died during the war and will be guests of honour at a dinner hosted by the Mayor of Messines. The Condons will be accompanied on their trip by Donal Moore, Waterford City Archivist and Secretary of the John Condon Memorial Committee.
The John Condon Memorial Committee was established by Waterford City Council in 2002 to organise and implement the erection of a monument in Waterford City in memory of John Condon and in so doing to remember all of the men and women of Waterford City and County who have died in conflicts at home and abroad.
