Letter: This time round let's not forget

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Three years ago I wrote imploring both Irish State and Irish Church to commemorate the centenary of the worldwide 50,000,000 Spanish flu deaths, including 43,000 Irish pandemic deaths. Little happened and a major opportunity to learn the lessons of history was lost.

Today as I reflect upon the fact that, in the first wave of that pandemic, three of my father's siblings died of Spanish Flu I have a clearer first hand appreciation of how my grandparents must have felt and what was going on around them especially as my own son was hospitalised this time round.

Back then, caught up in their personal tragedy, like bereaved families all around them, they did not have the luxury of recording how quickly it all happened and how they felt. Of the few reminders we have of the impact on our family are the memorial cards for the children. Despite exhaustive enquiries we have not found where the children were buried.

With all of this in mind we have decided to record the impact of the present fast moving Coronavirus on our family, including children and grandchildren. I hope that other parents and grandparents will do likewise and so ensure that this time round lessons are not forgotten.

Please God as Church and State this time round "WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"!

Alan Whelan, Killarney, Co Kerry.

PS. As a family one hundred of us gathered for our own centenary Mass in Dublin's St James' Church on 28th July 2018 followed by a family gathering in a local hotel.

See also: UK Viewpoint: Let's not forget those who have died of Covid - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/40522