US honours Carrigaholt WWI soldier

Ninety-three years after 23-year-old Private Dennis Liddane, originally from Rehy, Carrigaholt, died in action in World War I, the US Army Awards and Decorations Branch have confirmed that he is to posthumously receive three medals for his contribution to the US war effort. Private Liddane was a son of Ellen Pope and Thomas Liddane.

Marty Halpin recently received confirmation that his great uncle, who died on October 10, 1918, will be accorded the Purple Heart, a World War I Victory Medal with a Meuse-Argonne battle clasp and a World War I Victory Button. The medals will be presented next year.
Private Liddane was wounded by shellfire while serving with Company B 327TH Infantry Regiment, 82nd All American division, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive in France. He was wounded on October 9 and died the following day in hospital. Private Liddane was buried in the Meuse–Argonne American cemetery, the largest American cemetery in Europe. The burial ground is located almost in the centre of an area captured by American troops at the end of World War I.
On the 130 acres of ground, 14,246 war dead are interred, including 186 unknown soldiers.
Three of Private Liddane’s grandnieces, Helen Kennedy, Pauline Cummins and Dell Fitzgerald, on behalf of the Lardner, Halpin and Liddane families, have visited his grave to honour and remember his passing.  They visited on October 14, 2009.
Dennis was born on November 11, 1893 in Rehy. Aged 18, he emigrated to the US on the SS Baltic in 1913.
He was accompanied on that voyage by his brother, James and they eventually settled in New Jersey, becoming American citizens. When World War I broke out, Dennis was drafted into the American army.