At the Irish Peace Tower in Messines President Mary McAleese and Queen Elizabeth II stand together to remember the Irish who fought in the Great War.
On the 80th anniversary of the Armistice marking the end of the First World War, a ceremony is held in Messines in Belgium to inaugurate the Irish Peace Tower.
First Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimble is attending the ceremony at Messines. He is glad that,
The Irish Republic itself is now able itself to acknowledge that and to acknowledge those people from the Republic of Ireland who served in the British Army in both World Wars.
More than 200,000 Irish soldiers fought in World War One. Catholic and Protestant soldiers served together in the trenches united in the belief in the freedom of small nations. Of those, 35,000 died and for many decades the memory of these soldiers was neglected.
Fred and Philomena Plunkett are attending the Messines ceremony because their grandfather was killed in 1915 when their mother was just two years old. Philomena Plunkett feels the need to represent her mother as,
It's a father she wasn’t able to speak about.
In a historic moment President Mary McAleese arrives at Messines with Queen Elizabeth II and King Albert II of Belgium.
The Irish State was finally paying its respects and a new chapter in the relationship between North and South and between Britain and Ireland has been written.
President McAleese inaugurated the tower by reading a plaque in four languages dedicated to all those from the Island of Ireland who fought and died in the First World War. Then the President, the Queen and the King each laid a wreath.
Ireland had finally remembered all its dead in the hope of a better future.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 11 November 1998. The reporter is Margaret Ward.
