My Granddad (Frank Weldon, 31 High Street, survived by my grandmother, Kathleen) was with an army Transport company based in Gormanston at the time but he never mentioned the LDF unit in the town. I was wondering that if indeed they were a Balbriggan unit, were they based out of gormanston camp or was the barracks in the town? How many were in the unit, were they infantry? I have contacted the Dept Of Defence but as of yet Ive had no reply. Also Id like to confirm for you that my unit which marches almost every year in Balbriggan St Patricks Day parade, will march in this years. Id like to inform you a little about the army unit that marches in town each St.Patricks day. My unit is A Company of the 65th Infantry Battalion (Reseve Defence Forces) based in Swords. We are a reserve for the 5th Battalion Permanent Defence Forces based in McKee Barracks. (note: The 6 in 65th denotes a reserve unit, the 5 in the 65th denotes our parent regular army unit) We have a number of members from Balbriggan including myself and to anyone on the odd Saturday morning, who strolls Gormanston beach to be disturbed by the sounds of gunfire, red flags and waving soldiers, thats sometimes us practicing on the target range. Last year some balbriggan lads including myself were selected as part of the Presidential Guard of Honor in front of the GPO at the Easter Rising 90th commemoration.I have some photos somewhere, it was a big moment for me and the rest of the lads. We put in weeks of tiring work getting ready, rehearsing in a mock up of O Connell street in the Curragh, cleaning and polising uniforms and rifles, etc and were inspected on the day by the Taoiseach and President McAleese (who is also the de facto head of the irish army) before being marched off O'Connell street to cheering crowds. Not many people knew that it was a reserve unit and not full time soldiers. The FCA (now the RDF) has come a long way. We always look forward to marching through the town on Paddys day too so keep your eye out for us, there were very few of us last year as we were also asked to march in the Dublin City parade which was a shame.We're back this year and I get the impression that a lot of locals think were regular army recruits from Gormanston camp but I think its high time that they knew we are local lads and girls (balrothery, swords, skerries, rush, lusk, naul and balbriggan). Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this email, I hope that you may be able to answer some of my questions and that this information about the unknown soldiers on Paddys day might find its way into the public domain on Balbriggan.net in some form or other, if you require any further information, please feel free to contact me. Keep up the good work, regards Ross Mc Gee Tara Court + Chieftains Way Balbriggan