1 Wednesday 25-9-18 Dear Fr. Provincial P.C. You will already have heard the
very sad news of Fr. Fitzgibbon's death. Will you please accept my most sincere
condolences and those of all the Officers and
men of his unit (16. Field Ambulance). I last saw him at Boulogne, on my way
to England for leave on the 16 th of this month.
He had just come back from Lourdes, and
had said Mass, just returning to the sacristy
as I was vesting for mine. An hour or so later
he saw me off on the leave boat. He was
full of Lourdes; & no doubt Our Lady has
conferred on him what she considers the best
favour. I did not learn of his death till my
return from leave on Sunday last (22 nd).
On Wednesday (18th) he was called out from
lunch about 1:30 p.m, to bury a Catholic boy;
after the funeral he was chatting with a German
Catholic prisoner in the cemetery when a shell 2 landed in their midst; and the poor Father
fell first on his knees and then forward
on his face, praying aloud. One of our
'boys' (who gave me those details later) rushed to
his assistance, but hed only raised him on to
his knees when another shell burst in on
them and he had to drop his burden and
throw himself on the ground to avoid death.
A few minutes later Fr. Fitzgibbon's body
was removed, and he was buried next day
by Fr. McGuinness who wrote to his father,
but told me he had not written to you. Wont you please excuse my not having
written sooner. We are having a pretty rough
lively time jus since my return and I am
taking advantage of a lull in the in-coming
of the wounded to write these few hurried lines. I cannot tell you what a dreadful loss Fr.
Fitzgibbon is to the Division. He was a splendid
organiser, most tactful, always working, and
most kindly and helpful to us junior Chaplains. Then of course he and I were very close
friends, for we were both Jesuits and I knew 3 him during his philosophy at St. Marys Hall. I have come to 16 Field Ambulance in his
stead, as I consider it a better centre to
work from now that he is gone; and we
have lost our Artillery Chaplain,
Fr. Brown (a secular priest) who has gone down
seriously wounded. So you see Fr. M
Fr Mc. Guinness & myself who are the only
two chaplains left in the Division have
a great deal of work on our hands. Good bye now dear Fr. Provincial,
and please remember us and our work in
your Mass sometimes. Yours respectfully in Christ W. Keary S.J.
16th Field Ambulance
B.E.F.