Two Brothers, Two Wars: From the Western Front to the Burmese Jungle

Tom McAlindon joined the Royal Irish Rifles in 1908 at age seventeen and fought on the Western Front from August 1914 until late 1918. He died agonizingly from dysentery in a military hospital in the south of England. His mother and eleven-year-old brother Denis witnessed Tom's death in a distressing scene, likely to haunt Denis forever. Years later Denis became a missionary priest in Burma. In 1941 the Japanese routed the British army there and captured his fellow priests, but his remote mission station remained undiscovered. This is a strange and moving story about the early life and war experiences of two brothers, drawing on family recollections, letters, military records and memoirs, and the archives of the Columban Missionary Society.