John Condon (British Army soldier)

John Condon (October 5, 1896 - May 24, 1915) was an Irish soldier long believed to have been the youngest Allied soldier killed during the First World War, at the age of 14 years, as shown on his gravestone.

It is now believed from a birth certificate, census, war diaries and other records that John Condon would have been 18 years old at the recorded date of his death and that the wrong individual is named on the grave. At the present time, the headstone in Poelkapelle Cemetery and the CWGC record continue to assert the challenged data.^[1][2][3][4]

It is asserted^[1] and documented that

• The body in the unmarked grave was misidentified as Condon based on an ambiguous boot stamping 6322 4/R.I.R. found at exhumation.
• The stamp was interpreted by the Imperial War Graves Commission as being Regimental Number 6322 of the 4th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment.
• Condon was not in the 4th but the 3rd battalion
• The same stamping could denote 6322 Rifleman Patrick Fitzsimmons, 2nd Bn. Royal Irish Rifles, KIA June 16, 1915, who previously was in the 4th battalion Royal Irish Rifles.
• While the 2nd R. I. Rifles fought at the location of the exhumation, the 3rd R. I. Regiment did not.
• No body was ever identified as 6322 Rifleman Patrick Fitzsimmons. He is listed on the Menin Gate memorial.^[5]

References

Further reading

• Geert Spillebeen 2010, Age 14 - An Irish Boy Soldier, Collins Press