Martin Joseph Sheehan

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Martin Joseph Sheehan, Lieutenant, second of three sons of Captain D.D. Sheehan, M.P. for Mid-Cork, Ireland, who served on the Western Front in World War I.

Born in March, 1896, he was educated at Christian College, Cork and Mount St. Joseph's College, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. He won several prizes in school sports and played for Munster in the Rugby Inter-Provintial Senior College Championships, being described in the Dublin Press as 'the most brilliant three-quarter back the College had produced for years'.

He went to Canada in 1913, and was employed in the Union Bank of Canada at Bassano and Bellevue, Alberta. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a private in 1915 and won the all-round Athletic Championship of his Division in Nova Scotia.

He came overseas with his battalion in 1916, and transferred as a cadet to the Royal Munster Fusiliers, and later obtained his commission. With them he was in some of the fiercest fighting at Passchendaele and elsewhere. He transferred to the Royal Air Service as 'Observer' and saw considerable service in France and Italy with the 13th Squadron.

He went out on observation duty over the enemy lines on the morning of October 1st, 1918, and met his death, but in what circumstances has never been known. He is buried in the British War Cemetery, at Anneux, France.

Grave no.: Plot 1, Row H21. Anneux lies 6km west of Cambrai on the road to Bapaume.

Biography as recorded in the British War Office Publication 'Soldiers Died in the Great War.