The youngest soldier to be
killed in the Great War of 1914-18 was No. 2622 Private John
Condon, of the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment and came from
Waterford in Ireland. Like a quarter of a million other boy
soldiers from all over the British Isles, John was underage. He
arrived at the Western Front in March 1915 and two short months
later he was dead. Killed in a German Gas attack at a place
called Mouse Trap Farm near Ypres, Belgium on the 24th of May, a
day they say when a greenish yellow mist crept from the German
lines with deadly poison. John's grave is in Poelcapple Military
Cemetery and is now reputedly the most visited grave on the
entire Western Front for obvious reasons. There, amongst
thousands of white headstones, there is usually an array of
poppies, flags and wooden crosses around the final resting place
of young John Condon and a gravestone that says it all.
2622 Pte. J. Condon, 14 years
old!
The lyrics of the song are
printed below
"John Condon"
Just a day, another
day beneath the Belgian sun
Past grave on grave, row on row until I see the name
John Condon
carved in stone, the harp and crown, little crosses
in the ground
and standing there, my silent prayer is for a boy
who died a soldier
wee lad who'll not grow old. Heroes that don't come
home
Here they lie in Belgian fields and Picardy
Just a recruit in
soldier's boots. from Ireland's shores to here
this living hell. This Poelcapelle. Where young men
fell like you, John Condon
and all around the harp and crown, the crosses in
the ground
stand up in proof, the bitter truth, the waste of
youth that lies forgotten
wee lad who'll not grow old. Heroes that don't come
home
Here they lie in Belgian fields and Picardy
Now tell me John,
before I go on. What did you come here for?
with Ireland's bold, your life untold, 14 years old
- to die a soldier?
and all around the harp and crown and crosses in the
ground
what caused was served? So undeserved!
Heroes that don't
come home. Sing out for all their souls
here they lie in Belgian fields, and Picardy
