[caption id="attachment_69242" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="In this 2010 photo of the Armistice Day Commemoration at Glasnevin Cemetary, Patrick McCourt, a veteran of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, pays his respects at the now marked graves of Irish servicemen and women who were part of the British and Commonwealth forces in two world wars and who were, until recent times, buried in unmarked graves."]
An Irish historian has appealed for the families of almost 100 soldiers who died after serving with the British army to come forward.
Memorial plaques are to be placed on graves in Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery in honor of the Irish servicemen and women who lost their lives as a result of the first and second world wars.
Shane MacThomais, who is also the resident tour guide of the cemetery, said headstones have already been erected on 85 unmarked plots in the location by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The graves of 104 former soldiers buried in family plots are next to be marked in time for Armistice Day on November 11 of this year.
"Personally, I don't think anybody should be in an unmarked grave no matter what they did in life," MacThomais said.
"It is sad that somebody who had a family and went and fought in a war was forgotten. By February we will start marking the remaining graves and we would prefer to have their families' permission and blessing first," he said.
Ten families, including ones from Cincinnati, Ohio, England and a serving soldier in the Irish Defense forces, have already come forward to claim graves of soldiers whose names are listed on the Glasnevin Trust website.
A list of an additional 15 names of men who died from injuries inflicted while at war is also being considered by the CWGC for inclusion.
Mr. MacThomais said it has been a great experience
meeting the families of the Irish war dead, some of whom served under a false name because of the stigma attached to fighting for the British, or because they were under age, or even, in some cases, on the run.
