John Condon (soldier)

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Grave of John Condon in the Poelkappelle military cemetery
Saint Julien Memorial (1923) for Canadian soldiers killed in the first gas strikes on April 22nd and 24th, 1915

John Condon (* around 1900 in Waterford , Ireland; † 24. May 1915 in Ypres ) is considered the youngest soldier of the Allies of the First World War fell.

resume

John Condon was born to John and Mary Condon in Waterford , Ireland . He volunteered on October 24, 1913 as a soldier with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment in Waterford. He underwent military training as a reservist until February 23, 1914 and again from April 18 to May 17, 1914. On August 7, 1914, his unit was mobilized after the start of the First World War, but initially remained in the reserve. On December 16, 1914, he was transferred to active service in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment . The battalion was attached to the 4th Infantry Division of the British Expeditionary Force and was used in the Ypres arch .

During the Second Battle of Flanders on May 24, 1915, the German troops undertook a violent artillery attack in an approximately seven-kilometer-long section of the front of the Ypres Arc, which was held by the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment . The artillery attack was followed by one of the first uses of poison gas in the First World War . John Condon died as a result of the German poison gas attack and was initially buried in a makeshift grave near St. Julien. When his family received news of his death, they were completely unaware that he was serving on the front lines in Belgium.

Grave and memorial

Eight years later he was transferred to the British military cemetery at Poelkappelle . His grave is now considered one of the most visited graves of the First World War.

On May 18, 2014, after 15 years of planning, a memorial created by Paul Cunningham was inaugurated in Waterford. The memorial, called the John Condon Memorial , is intended to commemorate all 4800 men and women from the city and county of Waterford who fell in World War I, 1100 of whom have no known grave. After the end of the war and Ireland's independence from Great Britain, the Irish government did not want to publicize the soldier's fate for a long time, as one could claim that he fought for the British.

Age information

Most of Condon's older biographies assume that he was around 12 years old when he volunteered as a soldier on October 24, 1913 and that at the time of his enrollment he gave false information about his age in order to even be accepted into the army .

New research is trying to prove that Condon's age is 14 years old and that he was actually 18 years old.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography of John Condon (PDF) on Decade of Centenaries, accessed on June 22, 2014 (English).
  2. ^ Memorial to WW1′s youngest Allied soldier unveiled. The Irish Post, May 23, 2014, accessed June 23, 2014.
  3. ↑ Grave details of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  4. ^ Memorial to youngest Allied WWI soldier to die unveiled in Waterford. Irish Central, May 20, 2014, accessed June 22, 2014.
  5. ↑ Poelcapelle British Cemetery. Information from the municipality of Langemark-Poelkapelle (English).
  6. ↑ Age 14, the youngest soldier killed in the Great War? The John Condon myth explained. Campaign for War Grave Commemorations.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Condon, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION youngest Allied fallen in World War I.
DATE OF BIRTH 1900 or 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Waterford , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1915
Place of death near Ypres