Given its strategic importance during World War I, Flanders Fields were never quiet during the four years of the conflict. This area of Belgium endured brutal battles that left a visible scar on its landscape. Amongst those scars, hundreds of military cemeteries and memorials are perpetuating the memories of the brave men and women who gave their lives for a higher purpose.
Private Patrick Coleman of the 1st Bn. - Royal Dublin Fusiliers is one of them. So far, the only information found on his service records shows a death on July 16th 1918. The carving of his name on Panel 10 of the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing (pictured below) is here to remind us that his remains were never found. Here too, a cross has been laid in his honour on behalf of the Clann (please note that the poppy on the cross represents the poppies found growing on soldiers' graves in Flanders Fields. It is not a political statement of any sort).
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