Plaque honouring soldier killed in Iraq unveiled on Remembrance Day at his former school

A plaque honouring a Bermondsey man who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004 has been put up in the chapel of his former school.

In a ceremony on Sunday, November 14, former headteacher of St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College Stella Flannery unveiled the memorial to Private Lee O’Callaghan.

Lee was killed aged 20 after being shot in the chest in Basra, Iraq.

At the event Ms Flannery told the congregation of 40 of the high regard everyone had for Lee.

She said he was a very keen student who  cared about his friends and peers.

She added that he had a real and active interest in sport and joined the army less than a year before his death in Iraq. 

The plaque reads: “Of your charity please pray for the soul of Lee O’Callaghan, killed in action on August 9, 2004, aged 20.”

This tribute to Lee joined more than 150 names of the boys of Clapham College who died in combat in both world wars.

Clapham College shut down in the 1980s when St Francis Xavier College opened on the site.

Pictured top: Colin Garvey, David Leathem, David Rowles, Graham Thompson, Stella Flannery, and Mon.Vlad Feldzmann.