A ceremony will be held Saturday to rededicate Private Michael G. Murphy Field in coordination with the city of Newport and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 406.
The event will take place at 10 a.m. at the field, located at the corner of Ruggles and Carroll avenues. The public is invited to the family and dog-friendly event, with no RSVP necessary. The ceremony will occur rain or shine.
City Councilor David Carlin, who represents the Third Ward and sponsored the resolution to rededicate the field, said recent improvements made it an appropriate time to honor Murphy.
“Murphy Field has been revived of late. With new tennis courts and basketball courts as well as extensive grounds upgrades, the time was right to appropriately honor the late Private Michael Murphy with a rededication,” Carlin said.
Patrick Murphy, the city’s former historian and a grandnephew of Private Murphy, has been advocating for the city to install an accurate plaque at the field, Carlin said.
“The city council, the VFW and the neighborhood responded with enthusiasm and support,” he said.
The ceremony will include unveiling of a new plaque, a color guard performance, military rituals and remarks from guest speaker Sean O’Callaghan. A newly installed American flag and lighting system will also be part of the ceremony.
Michael George Murphy was born Feb. 14, 1890, in Foilleye, Canalmore, Allies, located on the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1910 at age 20, working in Montana’s mining industry before settling in Newport in 1915 with his aunt and uncle at 28 Simmons St. in the Fifth Ward.
Drafted into the U.S. Army, he served in the 82nd Division of the 319th Machine Gun Battalion of the American Expeditionary Force. He was killed Oct. 30, 1918, during an offensive into Argonne Forest, France, in the last weeks of the war. He is buried in the Meuse Argonne Cemetery near the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon in France.
O’Callaghan is associate professor of religious and theological studies and a faculty member in the humanities and technology Ph.D. program at Salve Regina University. A native of Cork, Ireland, he has a particular interest in the history of World War I. Members of his family fought and died at the Somme.
For more information, call Carlin at (401) 862-5027 or visit https://vfw406ri.org/.