REMEMBERING OUR LOCAL HEROES – LANCE SERGEANT DAVID MCQUITTY

In the final installment of the Local Heroes series, Cadet Lance Corporal Robert Allen and Cadet Corporal Phillip Lindsay from Carrick Open Army Cadets remember the service of local man, Lance Sergeant David McQuitty.

Lance Sergeant David McQuitty was born on the 13th June 1891 to David McQuitty Senior and Emma Louise Abernathy. They lived in Carrickfergus. David had a very big family, as he had many brothers (4 of which served in the Navy) and sisters.

He married Sabina Burgees on 20 March 1912 and they lived in Carrickfergus with their 3 children Margret, Emma and David.

L/Sgt McQuitty enlisted into the army in September 1915; he joined the Royal Irish Rifles and was part of 12th Battalion. Much of his career was spent fighting in the western front and he also saw service at the battle of the Somme.
 
David was severely wounded fighting around Ypres in the battle of the Langemarck.
The Battle of Langemarck from 16–18 August 1917 was the second Allied general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres, during the First World War. He later died of these wounds on the 17th August 1917 in the 3rd Australian clearance station in Grevillers France.

David McQuitty was buried in Brandhoek, New Military Cemetery NO.3 in Belgium. His grave number is II.J.20. He is remembered on a plaque in the Bell Tower of St. Nicholas’ Church, Carrickfergus.

Words published from the family:
Duty called and he was there
To do his bit and take his share;
His heart was good, his spirit brave,
His resting place, a soldier’s grave.
 
Short was thy life, O Davie, dear,
But peaceful by thy rest;
We will miss you most of all,
Because we loved you best.
 
We did not know what pain he bore;
We did not see him die;
We only know he passed away
From wounds received that day