100 YEARS ON, NEW MEMORIALS UNVEILED AT THE OLD CHURCH IN COBH, IRELAND, GIVE RECOGNITION FOR THOSE OF LUSITANIA’S DEAD WHO LIE BURIED THERE IN MASS GRAVES
100 YEARS ON, NEW MEMORIAL WALLS UNVEILED AT THE OLD CHURCH CEMETERY IN COBH, IRELAND, GIVE RECOGNITION BY NAME FOR THOSE OF LUSITANIA’S DEAD WHO LIE BURIED THERE IN MASS GRAVES
Four glass memorial walls were unveiled today in the churchyard above the town of Cobh, Ireland, where many of those who lost their lives in the Lusitania disaster exactly 100 years ago lie buried in mass graves.
The ceremony to name all of Lusitania's victims buried at the site, including those lying unrecognised in the mass graves, took place as Cunard’s Queen Victoria called at Cobh today to mark the sinking of the line’s flagship Lusitania in a tragedy that changed the rules of engagement at sea. The ceremony took place prior to a larger service of remembrance on the seafront of Cobh.
At the Old Church Cemetery, wreaths were laid John Mullins, Chairman of the Port of Cork; David Dingle, Chairman of Cunard; and Councillor Alan Coleman, Mayor of County Cork. Commodore of the Cunard fleet and master of Cunard's Queen Victoria, Christopher Rynd, welcomed the addition of the memorial walls .
Of the nearly 1,200 people who lost their lives on 7 May 1915, 289 bodies were recovered and 170 are buried in Cobh’s Churchyard.
David Dingle:
“100 years on since so many people lost their lives when Lusitania was sunk, it is fitting that the souls buried here without recognition are now named on this memorial wall and their sacrifice is remembered.”