"Mayo Comrades of The Great War" is a book that covers the period of First World War. It is a monumental piece of historical research that has taken over seven years to compile.

The authors, P J Clarke, Ballina, and Michael Feeney, Castlebar, researched the four papers that existed in Mayo at that time (Western People, Connaught Telegraph, Mayo News and Ballina Herald) and have abstracted all the names of the soldiers who fell in battle; plus lots of their stirring stories.

PJ also trawled through the papers and has included a huge amount of soldiers' names that gained a mention of being home on leave or injured and were recuperating before returning to battle, and these amount to a good number of papers under the heading "Throughout The Pages". The papers also had a lot of poetry about the war from soldiers and readers and these are in a stand-alone section.

Also researched are the names of Irish men in the Canadian and Australian armies; also some who were with the American Forces, plus a lot of names from the files of the British Legion Committee and Prisoner of War Camps.

P J Clarke took his camera with him wherever he went and has researched every graveyard and church in Mayo in his quest for headstones of returned soldiers and memorial plaques and has succeeded in this admirably and they form part of the book under the heading of "Monuments to Courage".

The book covers nearly every parish in Mayo and it is a book that should be in every home in Mayo as a monument to the courage of Mayo men who let their bravery do the talking.

The book is A4 size and contains 360 pages of text. It is hardback and has a dust cover. It retails at euro35 (plus postage euro7 Ireland; euro10 England/Europe; euro16 USA/Australia via airmail). Contact

For further information or purchase you can contact chief author:

P J Clarke

Plunkett Road

Ballina

Co Mayo

Tel: +353 (0) 96 22195

Mobile: +353 (0) 87 0505372

Email:  pjmclarkw2004@yahoo.com