As will be seen in the war military panels these two small towns were unique in the history of the Great War in the number of volunteers from the two communities. Man for man, and based on all the eligible male population suitable for military service, the town of Rathnew provided more soldiers than any other community in the entire British Empire and that includes England itself. This unique statistic was closely followed by Newtownmountkennedy. The reasons for such an unlikely statistic are unclear but things like family tradition in previous soldiering, lack of domestic employment opportunity for young men in their home place, the presence of persuasion by recruiting sergeants of the Wicklow Artillery, and a sense of adventure to escape the drudgery of village life all probably spurred a host of young men to the colours when the war broke out.