220509 Pte. Patrick Connolly British Army 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers from:14 Slate Street, Belfast My great grandfather Patrick Connolly, born on the 20 June 1882 in Belfast, served in France during the 1st World War as Lewis Gunner with 2nd and 8th Battalions, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Although he joined up early in the war, 19 November 1914, it would appear that he did not go to France until 18th of February 1916. He had two periods in France, the first on the 18 February 1916 until 5 July 1916 with the second being on the 18 December 1916 until 20 March 1918 when he was taken prisoner on the 21 March 1918 at St Quentin, France.
He was also involved in a railway accident while a prisoner and suffered an injury to his leg on the 14 September 1918. I am not sure what battles he fought in, but he was shot twice one of which was at Loos. He was also hit by gas shell and suffered from the effects of gas. He had to return to England for a time to recover from his injuries.
He remained a prisoner until the end of the war and returned home to Belfast early in 1919.
He died on the 1 August 1960. My grandfather did not talk much about the war as it was not easy coming back to Ireland given the situation at the time. He only said that they were very hungry and some of the soldiers caught and ate rats but he said that he did not.
While he was a prisoner a German Bishop visited the camp and gave him a German prayer book, which the family have to this day. We have a number of documents from which I obtained the above information as he had applied for a pension after the war.
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