Thomas Corrigan left his home for Manchester England at the age of 13. To find work he lied about his age and took the job as a ships coal passer. Eventually he became a coal passer on the Lusitania bound for America where in New York, 1915 he jumped ship. This was to be the last successful sailing of the Lusitania to the States. It was sunk on May 7, 1915 by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland bound for Liverpool. The sinking of this ship became America's entrance, two years later, into the First World War.
Shortly after arriving in America Thomas wrote to Grace Joyce, the love of his life, and asked her to come so they could be married. Grace was the oldest daughter of seven children born to Peter Joyce (Peador Beag) and Ann Patton Joyce.
August 21,1892 in Mewillian, Curraun, County Mayo, Ireland, Grace was born. Her place of birth was a small stone one room house with a thatched roof on a gentle slop of mountainous land that looked over the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1915 Grace acquired passage on the Philadelphian to join Thomas in America. She arrived June 3, 1915.
Finally together they realized that they couldn't be married because Thomas was not legally a citizen. The United States was on the verge of declaring war with the Germans and the United States Army was looking for recruits. Thomas enlisted March 5, 1918 in the infantry so that he could gain his citizenship. Shortly after he was sent to Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio for training.
