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Fusilier
by Michael H. Hanson
The Vaunted Munster Infantry
thus boarded ship with boot and kit
and ‘pon the churlish Channel Sea
Pete Casey steamed to Normandy.
To Normandy! To Normandy!
The Royal Munster Fusiliers
all shouted proud with Gaelic glee
upon the tossing Channel Sea.
Staunch Irishmen of humble birth
strong arms and hearts of British rule
fine lads of freckled wit and mirth
the prideful Munster Dirty Shirts.
Frangalus Clauber kicked their arse
and heralded six months of Hell.
Lee Enfield bruised there hands and hearts
and drilled them in the killing arts.
Their home the lonely endless trench
foreboding dank uncovered graves
with wounded sprawled on every bench
all perfumed with a dead man’s stench.
Closed-quartered drills and night attacks
for weeks without a shower or bath
they scraped their boards of mud and flak
and knitted wire upon their backs.
‘Cross fields of muck and smoking death
good Sergeant Casey led his boys
to pay the bloody butcher’s debt
with gun, grenade, and bayonet.
One day a Hun advanced unseen
a Grenadier still but a lad
whose Kugel ball spit Casey’s spleen
upon that morn most banefully.
Three days he lay in fevered dreams
remembering fair emerald shores
his wife and children faithfully
awaiting him across the sea.
Within a medic’s tent he died
brave Sergeant Casey, Dunchadh Eire!
Thus buried in French countryside
alone beside the Channel tide.
Two days too late for brave Casey
the Nine Battalion struck it’s flag
pale remnants of Hell’s casualties
survivors cursed with memories... ______________________________
Three Promises
by Michael H. Hanson
This granted wish of earthly loss
these ashes spread on verdant cliffs
I grieve ‘midst Irish rain and moss
and set my Mother’s soul adrift.
One golden day--on hilly rise
fair Adirondac lake and tree
with sorrowed song and weeping eye
interred with loving family.
Her last request--my promised fate
yon fallen Gaelic soldiery
my lost Great Grandfather awaits
at rest beside the Channel Sea.
Alone, alone in Normandy
my ancient Father calls to me.
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* 1916 Photograph of Sergeant Peter Casey
* Royal Munster Fusilier Blazer Badge
* Royal Munster Fusilier Bengal Tiger Crest
* Royal Munster Fusilier Cap Badge
* 16th Irish Division Shamrock Insignia
* 1914-1915 Star (Awarded Posthumously to Sergeant Peter Casey)
* WWI Allied Victory Medal (Awarded Posthumously to Sergeant Peter Casey)
* WWI British War Medal (Awarded Posthumously to Sergeant Peter Casey)
* WWI Commemorative Scroll
* Commemorative Letter from King George V
* Sergeant Peter Casey’s WWI Bronze Memorial Plaque (The Dead Man’s Penny)
* Photograph of 16th Irish Division, WWI
* Calais Cemetery Memorial Cross
* Reproduction of part of a painting by Fortunino Matania, entitled “The Last Absolution of The Munsters at Rue de Bois, 1915.” It depicts the blessing of The Royal Munster Fusiliers on the evening
of May 8, by their Chaplain, Father Gleeson in front of a ruined shrine with a crucifix. Each Company has a green standard embroidered with an irish Harp and the word “Munster,” gifts from Lady Gordon to the Regiment.
