John Adams (Army No. 13971) fought with the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers in the Great War, and this site records his letters home over the period 1915-1916. He started this period in a training camp in Newtownards, moved to Sussex for further training, was deployed to the Western Front, was wounded 2 months before the Battle of the Somme, and spent Christmas in a camp in Tipperary. The following is an extract from the Ulster Gazette January 1971, on his death: “For his bravery at Passchendaele he received the Military Medal and for courageous deeds the following year he also got a bar for his medal. He was twice wounded and once gassed and the only battle he did not take part in with his famous Ulster Division was that of the Somme on July 1st 1916, for he had been wounded in May of that year. He was discharged in 1919 when he had attained the rank of Acting Company Sergeant-Major and he was suffering from his war injuries.” He later went on to serve in the Ulster Special Constabulary in Co. Armagh from 1922 until retirement in 1952, and was awarded the MBE in 1952. He…