News from the past is a project to commemorate the people of Sligo who fought in WW1. This blog will be used to share these stories.
James Duffy was born in Sligo on the 1st of May, 1890 to James and Mary Duffy. As a child, James with his parents emigrated to Edinburgh where he learned the skill of stone cutting and became a successful long distance runner with the Edinburgh Harriers.
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Thomas Crofton was born on the 3rd October 1889 at Longford House, Beltra near Ballisodare. He graduated from Trinity in 1912 as a civil engineer and went to work in Canada. On the 5th August 1914 when war was declared he immediately signed up with the Canadian Scottish Infantry as a Private. Within months he was undergoing training in England to join the British and French forces in Flanders. In December he applied for a commission with the Connaught Rangers and was accepted. By August 1915 he was appointed a Captain and got posted overseas for the first time where he was involved in numerous military actions.
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Joseph OʼBeirne was from Kilnamonagh near Collooney, Co. Sligo.
He was a devoted Roman Catholic all his life and a member of the Knights of Columbanus and a member of the Teeling Football team.
In 1910 he applied unsuccessful for a job as a rent collector with the Sligo Rural District (Image 2) and so in 1911 like so many men of the county who were unable to find employment he emigrated to America and settled down to a new life in New York.
In August 1917 he was conscripted into the US Army and joined up with the Co.D, 60th Infantry, Division 5 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
He was one of the first to receive the draft and by all accounts made a good soldier.
In early 1918 the 60th Infantry were moved across the Atlantic to France for combat duties. By November of that year Private Joseph OʼBeirne found himself in Verdun, France. He wrote his last letter home on the 5th November 1918.
