WB Yeats died on 28 January 1939 in the Hôtel Idéal Séjour, in Menton, France, aged 73. He was initially buried at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in south-eastern France. In September 1948 Yeats' body was moved to the churchyard of St Columba's Church, Drumcliff, County Sligo, on the Irish Naval Service corvette Lé Macha. Seán MacBride was in charge of this operation for the Irish Government.