Captain John Leo Whitty, class '12

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Captain John Leo Whitty, Leinster Regiment, attached Royal Flying Corps, officially reported missing, is now stated to have been killed by an anti-aircraft shell during a reconnaissance over the enemy's lines on July 8, 1916. Born at Cape Town, in 1894, he was the third son of Lieut.-Col. M. J. Whitty, R.A.M.C, and with his two brothers, Richard and Paddy, he spent several years in Castleknock.

He was gazetted from Sandhurst to the Leinster Regiment in February, 1913. He joined the 1st Battalion at Fyzabad in the following September, and after the outbreak of war returned with it from India to France. He was wounded at the retaking of the village of St. Eloi on March 15, 1915, in which action the 1st Leinster Regiment especially distinguished itself. He was highly commended for his coolness and courage in every emergency, and was mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Military Cross the following June.

Three of his brothers remain at the front, and in our prayers.

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In Memory Of Capt. Whitty, MC, R.F.C.

Winged Victory

"One of our machines did not return"

I.

I always hope it did not fall to land,

A shattered framework by the breezes driven,

But guided by its ghostly pilot's hand,

"Per ardua ad astra" flew to heaven.

II.

Courage and youth went proudly sweeping by

Up to their God into the bluest sky,

Through spattering shrapnel trailed their broken wing.

To heavenly home where our dead soldiers sing.

ANON

He has no known grave but is commemorated at the Arras Flying Services Memorial in Pas de Calais and at St.Francis Xavier's R.C. School, Everton.