205798 Fus. Edward Graham British Army 1st.Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers from:Portaferry, Co.Down (d.13th Aug 1943) My Father, Fuslier Edward Graham, originally from Chopwell, County Durham, joined the Territorial Army in 1935 and served for four years, being conscripted into the regular Army in 1939. He was transferred into the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who had suffered grievous losses at Dunkirk and sent to training camp at Ballykinler, County Down. In 1942 the regiment sailed to North Africa to bolster Montgomery's 8th Army and then took part in the Allied landings in Sicily as a prelude to the Italian campaign. This was a very bloody and vicious battle, the Germans put up ferocious resistance and the Allie's losses were heavy.
My father was posted missing in action on 13th August 1943 as the Battalion was advancing on the town of Maletto, he was never found. He is commemorated on the panels in the Allied War Cemetery at Cassino, Italy; on the WW2 Memorial in St. John's Parish Church, Chopwell and on the WW2 Memorial in Ballyphilip Parish Church, Portaferry, County Down, where he had married my Mother in 1941.
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