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Tom Kettle whose 100th anniversary is on September 9th died during the Battle of the Somme along with over 3,500 other Irishmen. Tom Kettle was for some a compromised nationalist. While on an arms buying assignment to Belgium in 1914 he witnessed first-hand German atrocities against the civilian populations in Belgium and France. His experience led him to join the Daily News, become a war correspondent and he subsequently assisted in humanitarian work. When he returned to Ireland he answered Redmond’s call to fight for England with the promise of gaining Home Rule. His experience resulted in him breaking out of the insular approach of Irish nationalism and adopting a more European approach of which Ireland was a part – “My only counsel to Ireland is, that to become deeply Irish, she must become European”.