RTÉ Documentary On One Preview: In this, the centenary year of the Battle of the Somme in WW1, BBC Radio Ulster's Gerry Kelly goes on a personal journey to discover the story behind his favourite song, The Green Fields of France. In an attempt to understand more about World War One, and to discover who the real Willie McBride was, Kelly travels to France and comes face-to-face with the same scenes that inspired the song’s writer, Eric Bogle. Here, producer Cameron Mitchell writes about their moving journey.
On Tuesday 22nd March 2016, just after 7.30am, Gerry Kelly and I arrive at a small town called Albert in Northern France. It’s a clear, peaceful day. A school bell interrupts the quiet town square and a handful of parents wave au revoir to their children.
The Virgin Mary stands high above us on the Basilica. Her arms are outstretched and cradle the infant Jesus. We spotted this huge gold statue a few miles back but now we’re formally introduced.
From her great height, Mary can see across the surrounding green fields and to the upper reach of the River Somme.
A hundred years ago she witnessed one of the bloodiest battles in history when more than one million, one hundred and fifteen thousand men died here - many of them Irish.
19-year-old Private Willie McBride, who died in 1916
Nearby there are hundreds and hundreds of small white gravestones. Thousands more men are still missing and to this day remains are being discovered in these fields. The whole place is a cemetery.
Just before 8.00am, we make our way from the Basilica to a small café on the town square corner. A little radio sits on the shelf playing music faintly. A few of those parents from the school have also stopped by - a routine morning for the café owner and his customers.
I try my hand at French and order coffee and croissants. With Gallic charm he explains that he hasn’t got any croissants and pops out to get some.
Gerry and I chat through the day’s recording schedule.
A few minutes later the café owner rushes back in. He is clearly frightened and speaks with alarm in his voice. He turns on the TV to a French news channel.
We don’t need translation. Pictures of chaos at an airport. The words ‘BOMB’, ‘TERROR’ AND ‘BRUSSELS’ are scrolling along the bottom of the screen.
The café falls silent. Albert and the River Somme are just sixty miles from Belgium and it is only a few months since the terror attacks in Paris.
Belgium, like France, was also devastated by World War One.
Sitting in a picturesque French café, uncomfortably close to where the terror is reigning, the closing words of Eric Bogle’s song ‘No Man’s Land’ come hammering home.
And I can't help but wonder, now Willie McBride, Do all those who lie here know why they died? Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?" Did you really believe that this war would end wars? Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain, For Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again, and again, and again, and again.
Eric penned these lyrics after he visited the military cemeteries in Northern France in the 1970’s. Most people know it as ‘The Green Fields of France’ and it has become one of the most enduring anti-war songs of the twentieth century.
A few days before we travelled to France, Eric explained to us “Look at what’s happening today, we have let them all down. Why was all this necessary? Why did all these young boys have to die?”
This documentary is an attempt to understand more about the true sacrifice made in World War I, and to discover who the real Willie McBride was.
But as we leave the café and prepare to come face-to-face with the same scenes that inspired Eric Bogle, we realise his song has as much relevance today as it did when he wrote it more than four decades ago.
Listen to Documentary On One: The Green Fields of France now here or tune in to RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday September 24th @2pm, with a repeat on RTÉ Radio on Sunday September 25th@7pm,
