AS the 92nd anniversary of the end of the Great War approaches a great nephew of two Londonderry brothers who fell in the conflict is seeking information on them.
Clive Johnston, now resident in Enniskillen, contacted the Sentinel seeking information from anyone who may have information relating to Corporal James Holmes Haslett and his younger brother Lance Corporal John Haslett.
Both men's names are displ
ayed on the Diamond War Memorial in the city.
Mr Johnston recalled that his mother, niece to the two fallen soldiers, recently found a telegram in her attic noting the death of her uncle James Holmes Haslett at Gallipoli on August 9, 1915. It was this that prompted the interest in researching his family's past.
Corporal Haslett was born at 14 Clooney Terrace in 1889 and the family moved to Bond Street in 1900.
The family ran a grocery business at Clooney Terrace-now the site of a butchers.
Fascinatingly, Corporal Haslett had spent his younger days gathering a reputation as an outstanding athlete.
His event of choice was the marathon and his training methods would probably leave the most highly trained professional runner today aghast.
This was because to prepare himself for races he pitted himself against the Moville to Londonderry Mail Boat and often beat it home over a distance of 27 miles.
To further his athletic prowess he emigrated to Australia in 1910 to take part in the Sydney Marathon, which he duly won.
Clive Johnston said: "He then joined the Brisbane Land Ambulance Volunteers which as unit (3rd Field Ambulance-Army Medical Corps) joined the Australian Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of war in 1914. They ended up in Alexandria then the War Council decided they should be sent to Constantinople."
Holmes Haslett was killed aged 26 at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, when a shell exploded overhead as he lifted a stretcher bearing another wounded soldier.
Tragically the Haslett family was to endure a double tragedy when his younger brother, Lance Corporal John was killed in action on July 1, the first day of the Somme.
John, like his brother had been an active member of Ebrington Presbyterian Church and was a clerk of the Londonderry office of the Belfast Steamship Company.
He enlisted at Finner Camp, County Donegal and joined the 'Derries'-the local regiment of Ulster Division immediately after its formation. His name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme France, as well as on the Diamond War Memorial.
The shock of losing two brothers had an adverse effect on Clive Johnston's grandmother. He told the Sentinel: "My grandmother told me that she hid the telegram from the Somme for about two days before she told her parents."
Although Holmes Haslett's records are fairly intact in Australia, John's were destroyed during the bombing of the Records Office at Kew in London, during WWII.
Clive Johnston is interested in hearing from anyone in Londonderry or beyond who has information on the Haslett's. Anyone with information should contact the Sentinel on 02871348889.
The full article contains 516 words and appears in Londonderry Sentinel newspaper.
