Fusilier Edward Graham (4451503) served in 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers during the Second World War. Born on 18th July 1912, he was the son of Sarah Ann Graham of Chopwell, Durham, England.
Edward’s grandfather and uncles were coal miners and he would have followed suit in the Chopwell mining community. On 2nd May 1935, Edward joined the Territorial Army with 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. He received a call up at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Following the Dunkirk Evacuation, many regiments reorganised and rebuilt. Among them was the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and Graham joined their ranks in 1940.
Marriage in Co. Down
While based at Ballykinler, Co. Down, Edward met and married Eveline McBride of Portaferry, Co. Down. The wedding took place at Ballyphilip Church of Ireland, Portaferry, Co. Down on 25th January 1941. The couple lived at 31 High Street, Portaferry, Co. Down. On 1st December 1941, Eveline gave birth to their first son who died the same day. By the time Fusilier Graham departed to take part in Operation Torch in 1942, his wife was once again pregnant.
Edward died on 13th August 1943 aged 31 years old, shot during a Machine Gun attack by the German Army while on a reconnaissance patrol near the town of Maletto. For many years, the Fusilier had no known grave, having been buried by the roadside where he fell and reinterred later in the war. Initially, the Fusilier was posted as missing on casualty lists, and his family back home did not know of his fate for almost 2 years.
A Lost Burial
Eveline Graham had given birth to twin sons, Edward Graham and Sydney Graham, 22 days before her husband’s death. Over 70 years later, those sons located their father’s grave, and in 2017, they visited for the first time. Edward Graham had conducted years of research along with military historian Richard O’Sullivan into where his father’s body may have lain. Eveline only spoke of her Fusilier husband following the death of her Second husband many years after the Second World War.
On 15th October 2017, a rededication ceremony took place at Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy. The headstone of an unknown soldier gave way to that featuring the name, rank, and number of Fusilier Edward Graham. Serving members of the Royal Irish Regiment sounded The Last Post and a Piper’s Lament.
Edward Graham’s grave is in Section IV, Row F, Grave 25 of Catania War Cemetery, Sicily, Italy. His name also features on memorials at Ballyphilip Church of Ireland, Portaferry, Co. Down, and St. John’s Church, Chopwell, Durham, England. His headstone in Italy bears the inscription:
Dear husband of Eveline. Father of John Joseph, Edward and Sydney. Faugh a Ballagh.