A number of our members visited The Battlefields of the Somme to commemorate the sacrifice of the Great War. The group stayed in Amiens and visited a range of Commonwealth and American war graves where members of the Knights of Malta lie.
Our journey to the Somme started in Ballynagarvey where a memorial to members of the Ancient and Illustrious Order of Knights of St. John and Malta hangs. It is a hand painted roll of honour containing the names of Knights who fought in the Great War many making the supreme sacrifice.
As part of the research project into the men we have traced many to the Bangor and Newtownards areas where there were Malta Encampments. Many joined the Ulster Volunteer Force to fight Home Rule, and then as the clouds of war gathered they enlisted in the 36th Ulster Division training at the Clandeboy Estate before leaving for England and then on to France.
Many were never to return and many places in Malta Encampments were left empty after the war. Indeed Ulster lost a generation of young men and many Encampments never recovered.
The Pilgrimage to the Somme was the first the Knights had taken since the Centenary Events of 2016, and they found the battlefields, and memorials empty. This gave them time to commemorate the fallen and to learn about the war.
The group included ex-servicemen, and many had a good knowledge of the battlefields but there is always more to learn.
The group visited the Ulster Tower and Theipval Memorial, as well as the battle fields themselves. The culmination of the visit was locating the final resting place of the only man from Portglenone who was killed on the first day of the Somme.
Research into the men who served and made that journey from the Bann to the Somme has inspired a life long interest amoongst local Knights who have pledged to discover more about their forebearers and to commemorate them annually.
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