257603 Pte. Denis Healy British Army 8th Btn. Royal Munster Fusiliers from:Cork Denis Healy served with the 8th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers and the 1st Garrison Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers in WW1.
He had served in South Africa with the the North Cork Militia 9th (Militia) Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corpsfrom 1st of May 1893 to 2nd of May 1903.
On 24th of August 1915 at age 44 Denis Healy rejoined the army this time serving with The Royal Munster Fusiliers0. He served in France from 19th of December 1915 to 7th of July 1917, which entitled him to the 1915 Star Medal. It would appear from the initial date in France that he would have been with the 8th Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, which was formed in
Sep/Oct 1914 at Fermoy as part of the Second New Army, then moved to Mitchelstown, County Cork and joined the 47th Brigade of the 16th Division.
In 1915 Moved to Templemore in February then back to Fermoy in May then in September to Blackdown, Aldershot.
On the 18th of December 1915 they mobilised for war and landed at Havre.
They were engaged in various actions on the Western Front including, The Battle of Guillemont and The Battle of Ginchy.
On the 23rd of November 1916 the Battalion was disbanded in France and the remaining personnel moved to the 1st Battalion which transferred to the 47th Brigade of the 16th Division and continued to engage in action on the Western Front.
During 1917 he saw action in The Battle of Messines, The first Battle of Cambrai, Third Battles of Ypres.
We then have a gap in Denis's service from 7th of July 1917 to 22nd of December 1917. Could he have been recovering from multiple neuritis at that time? He may have been admitted to the Royal Hospital Chelsea as an award of a War Disablement Pension was subsequently made in respect of the condition multiple neuritis, regrettably no payment details remain at The War Pensions Agency.
Presumably, on 22nd of December 1917 he joined the Royal Irish Fusiliers and according to the RIF Attestation Book he served in India until 25th of September 1920. He was discharged in Dublin on 23rd of November 1920 with his address given as 25 Gould Street, Cork. It appears that the only RIF battalion in India was the 1st Garrison Btn RIF which in February 1916 had deployed to India and in May 1917 deployed to Burma.
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