The Catholic and Church of Ireland Archbishops have held a joint commemoration in Normandy, France, for two chaplains, one from Belfast, the other from Co Roscommon, who both served on the beaches during D-Day 80 years ago.
Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin said tens of thousands of Irish men and women had fought together during World War II, something, he said, that had perhaps been conveniently forgotten.
Archbishop Martin was joined by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh John McDowell.
The event took place at the Royal Irish Regiment Service of Remembrance at Ranville Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, near Sword Beach in Normandy.
Archbishop McDowell paid tribute to Reverend James McMurray Taylor, a Church of Ireland chaplain who landed on Sword Beach on 6 June 1944.
He recalled his own experience of growing up in East Belfast among, and alongside, veterans of the WWII.
He said: "All of the residents had been physically damaged - usually with the loss of a limb - although I cannot remember any sense of bitterness.
"In other words, I was surrounded by men like James McMurray-Taylor. Extraordinary, ordinary people who did their duty and did it cheerfully in often very difficult circumstances."
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Archbishop Martin spoke of Father John Patrick O'Brien SSC, from Donamon, Co Roscommon who was ordained in 1942 as a priest for the Mission Society of Saint Columban.
Due to wartime travel restrictions for missionaries, he trained as an army chaplain and accompanied the D-Day invasion in Normandy.
The Catholic Archbishop pointed out that Father Jack O'Brien and the other chaplains ministered to soldiers of all denominations from every county on the island of Ireland.
Archbishop Martin said: "Father Jack O'Brien and the other chaplains ministered to soldiers of all denominations from every county on the island of Ireland...it has been largely forgotten - perhaps conveniently at times - that tens of thousands of men and women from all over the island of Ireland served side by side during the Second World War.
"Unlike many others, they were volunteers, rather than conscripts – personally motivated to serve the cause of peace and freedom and justice.
"As war and violence once more threaten to destabilise our continent and our world, Archbishop John and I stand here together at Ranville, witnessing to peace and reconciliation, to fraternity and common humanity.
"Fraternity and common humanity: that is what our brave and generous chaplains stood for in 1944 as they cared for the spiritual and emotional needs of so many in life and in death … the chaplains carried no arms – save the power of prayer and the Word of God.
"Their faith gave them all the strength they needed."
Ranville sits a short distance from Pegasus Bridge, the first village in France to be liberated by the Allies on D-Day.
Additional reporting Ailbhe Conneely
