Photograph of Joseph Letty & his Original Army Dog Tag

"Joseph Letty was my Grandfather. He was born in Dublin in 1864, and signed up to the British army in 1882. He was first sent to India, then fought two campaigns in Africa for the Boer War, and then in Gibraltar and then in the Somme during First World War. He was in the second battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and he was in France for 1914. I still have the embellished tin he would have received from Queen Victoria containing chocolate and cigarettes. He was enlisted from The Curragh in Co. Kildare. I still have the envelope for the original dog tag, along with his birth cert, original pensions, and death certificate. I would also have had his campaign medals however, our family were poor and had to pawn the medals. Joseph was forced to leave the British army due to ill health. He joined the Irish army (Óglaigh na hÉireann/ Fianna Fáil) on the 23rd April of 1923, just as the Civil War was coming to an end. He was discharged due to demobilisation in December 1923. Joseph Letty died in 1943 from natural causes. I am continuing my research into my Grandfather’s life, as I would like to know the details of his life in the British army. My mother, Catherine Letty told me that there was never any point in going to Grangegorman cemetery because it was a mass unmarked grave. I located Joseph’s grave and his wifes’, in Grangegorman Military Cemetery. I'm hoping to erect a gravestone for him there. I think that my Mother was upset that she did not have the money for a headstone and as a result did not want to visit the cemetery. "