I've just taken another look at the Eric Bogle Youtube video. To add insult to injury, it was preceded by an advert for the Joss Stone version, followed by a banner proclaiming the JS as the "official" British Legion single for 2014.

Somebody questioned whether William McBride really existed. The Bogle video shows his gravestone. It says he was a member of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Army no 21406, and that he died on 10th February 1916. That is all. It doesn't his birth date, but Eric could have got that from other sources.

The point is that he was another living sensate human being, who was cut down at the tender age of 19, for no more reason than he wore an army uniform, and that the powers that be on both sides regarded him and his kind as just another piece of cannon fodder. He now lies in mute silent witness to the horror and obscenity not just of the first world war, but of all the wars that have happened since.