#OnThisDay 1820 William Howard Russell was born in Tallaght, Dublin. Russell was a journalist for @thetimes & one of the first modern war correspondents. He covered the Crimean, American-Civil, Franco-Prussian wars & more. He coined the phrase “Thin Red Line”.
#OnThisDay 1923 Lt Frank Teeling shot & killed William Johnson in Dublin. Teeling had been one of Collins’ Squad, had killed Lt. Peel on Bloody Sunday, was captured & sentenced to death but later escaped from Kilmainham Gaol in a famous breakout. Teeling’s alcoholism had started getting the better of him. Earlier in the Irish Civil War, he shot a Sergeant Major dead but was not guilty of any crime, given his mental condition. The State had gathered money together for Teeling just days before he shot Johnson, to send him to start a new life in a different country but he committed this crime before they got it to him. In the end, Teeling got 18 months for manslaughter. #Ireland #History
#OnThisDay 1917 Frederick Watson Harvey, was from Meath but serving with the Canadian Army.
“During an attack by his regiment on a village, a party of the enemy ran forward to a wired trench just in front of the village, and opened rapid fire and machine-gun fire at a very close range, causing heavy casualties in the leading troop. At this critical moment, when the enemy showed no intention whatever of retiring, and fire was still intense, Lt. Harvey, who was in command of the leading troops, ran forward well ahead of his men and dashed at the trench, skilfully manned, jumped the wire, shot the machine-gunner and captured the gun. His most courageous act undoubtedly had a decisive effect on the success of the operations.
This earned him a Victoria Cross.
Harvey had two caps for @IrishRugby.
He survived both wars.
The Irish at War 