The Setting
High above the cold, wind-driven waves of the Irish Sea, sitting atop rocky vertical cliffs on a southern peninsula with the odd name of the Mull of Oa on the Scottish island of Islay, a forgotten stone monument fashioned in the shape of a lighthouse. The American Red Cross erected the monument in 1920 to honor the memory of those who died in two separate troopship sinkings – the Tuscania and the Otranto – off the coast of Islay. Designed by a Glasgow architect as a monumental cairn recognizing the importance of those dead in the cold waters off Islay. Most who see the monument see a lighthouse peering into the dark and icy seas. America intertwined with Islay.
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