John Condon
The youngest soldier to be killed in the Great War of 1914-18 was No. 6322 Private John Condon, of the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment and came from Waterford in Ireland. Like a quarten of a million other boy soldiers from all over the British Isles, John was underage. He arrived at the Western Front in March 1915 and two short months later he was dead. Killed in a german Gas attack at a place called Mouse Trap Farm near Ypres, Belgium on the 24th of May, a day they say when a greenish yellow mist crept from the German lines with deady poision. John's grave is in Poelcapple Military Cemetery and is now reputedly the most visited grave on the entire Western Front for obvious reasons. There, amonst thousands of white headstones, there is usually an array of poppies, flags and wooden crosses around the final resting place of young John Condon and a gravestone that says it all.
6322 Pte. J. Condon, 14 years old!
The lyrics of the song are printed below
"John Condon"
Just a day, another day beneath the Belgian sun
Past grave on grave, row on row until i see the name John Condon
carved in stone, the harp and crown, little crosses in the ground
and standing there, my silent prayer is for a boy who died a soldier
wee lad who'll not grow old. Heroes that don't come home
Here they lie in Belgian fields and Picardy
Just a recruit in soldier's boots. from Ireland's shores to here
this living hell. This Poelcapelle. Where young men fell like you, John Condon
and all around the harp and crown, the crosses in the ground
stand up in proof, the bitter truth, the waste of youth that lies forgotten
wee lad who'll not grow old. Heroes that don't come home
Here they lie in Belgian fields and Picardy
Now tell me John, before I go on. What did you come here for?
with Ireland's bold, your life untold, 14 years old - to die a soldier?
and all around the harp and crown and crosses in the ground
what caused was served? So undeserved!
Heroes that don't come home. Sing out for all their souls
here they lie in Belgian fields, and Picardy
©Laird/Starrett/McRory 2001
[Publisher: Bardis Music, Dublin]
