ve town of Drogheda has reason to be proud of Kenny, and it
showed its esteem in a splendid way. On St. Patrick's Day, 1915, the
Mayor and Corporation went to High Mass with Kenny, who was
accompanied by his mother and father; and afterwards, at a public
meeting in the square, attended by an enormous crowd, the noble fellow
was presented with a cheque for L120, and the freedom of the borough.
When he wrote his name on the roll of Drogheda's freemen, Kenny found
among the preceding signatures those of such famous historical
personages as the Duke of Ormond (1704); Henry Grattan (1782); Sir
Arthur Wellesley (1807); Isaac Butt (1877); Charles Stewart Parnell
(1881), and Sir Garnet Wolseley (1882).

The deeds of three other Irishmen who have won the Victoria Cross
were, like those of Kenny, deeds of mercy--the rescue of wounded
comrades. For a full appreciation of them it is necessary to
understand the awful plight of the soldiers who are stricken down on
the unsheltered open ground between the opposing trenches. When the
engagement in which the men fell is over this space is swept, on the
slightest movement, by volleys from rifles and machine-guns. It is
often impossible, therefore, to bring timely help to the wounded. At
night only, in the sheltering darkness, some of the least disabled
wounded may be able to crawl back to their trenches. Otherwise they
have to lie out there in the open while life ebbs away to the most
bitter torments. That is, unless there are at hand men moved by the
unselfish and tender emotion of pity, men susceptible to suffering,
men of refined and imaginative minds; and therefore able to project
themselves by the power of thought into the cruel situation of their
tortured and helpless mates, and feel to the full all the horror of
it; and men, too, whose high ideal of duty and right conduct impel
them irresistibly to go out to succour, even at the risk of meeting
the same terrible fate themselves. Of such noble men are Drummer
Kenny, and also Lance-Corporal Joseph Toombs, 1st Battalion King's
Liverpool Regiment, who comes from Warrenpoint, Co. Down; Private
Robert Morrow, 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, a native of Co. Tyrone, and
Private John Caffrey, 2nd York and Lancaster Regiment, who was born at
Birr, King's County, and has his home in Nottingham.

The official account of the achievements for which Toombs was awarded
the Victoria Cross is as follows:--

"For most conspicuous gallantry near Ru