Posted on 12/28/2011 5:32:30 AM PST by the scotsman
'Five thousand Irish soldiers who swapped uniforms to fight for the British against Hitler went on to suffer years of persecution.
One of them, 92-year-old Phil Farrington, took part in the D-Day landings and helped liberate the German death camp at Bergen-Belsen - but he wears his medals in secret.
Even to this day, he has nightmares that he will be arrested by the authorities and imprisoned for his wartime service. "They would come and get me, yes they would," he said in a frail voice at his home in the docks area of Dublin. And his 25-year-old grandson, Patrick, confirmed: "I see the fear in him even today, even after 65 years."
Mr Farrington's fears are not groundless. He was one of about 5,000 Irish soldiers who deserted their own neutral army to join the war against fascism and who were brutally punished on their return home as a result.
They were formally dismissed from the Irish army, stripped of all pay and pension rights, and prevented from finding work by being banned for seven years from any employment paid for by state or government funds.
A special "list" was drawn up containing their names and addresses, and circulated to every government department, town hall and railway station - anywhere the men might look for a job. It was referred to in the Irish parliament - the Dail - at the time as a "starvation order", and for many of their families the phrase became painfully close to the truth.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I would recommend to you a memoir by Hugh Leonard, the fine Irish playwright, entitled “Home Before Dark.” He recounts his Dublin childhood during the ‘30s and ‘40s. His wonderfully naive and kindly adopted father (”Da”) was continually giving the Hitler salute during the War - only to be excoriated by his fellow Dubliners. He had fought during the 1916 Revolution and was very bitter towards the English - the awful Black and Tans.
The Irish have a very sad, mixed-up history...
It is almost impossible for a nation or people to forgive and forget that some of their soldiers who took an oath would desert to fight along side an ancient enemy. The fact that that enemy was fighting an even more evil nation and ideology is essentially immaterial to those who were betrayed.
That’s how real life works. We would be no different most likely.
My wife would agree about the psychotherapy, but I think more coffee would help my reading comprehension.
I have never been a fan of the IRA although, as I said, some of my ancestors were part of the 1916 Rebellion (or so they said!) I didn’t want to call them terrorists as well as a pretty sadsack army, simply to avoid being flamed!!
Thank you for pointing out what should be obvious.
I had to laugh at the part that said the IRA lit the fires but the Luftwaffe did not notice! Typical of the disorganized nature of this crack “army.”
"They were formally dismissed from the Irish army, stripped of all pay and pension rights, and prevented from finding work by being banned for seven years from any employment paid for by state or government funds.Not many nations choose starvation of the families of deserters as a suitable punishment. Also most nations grant an amnesty after a few years to those deserters who have evaded capture.
A special "list" was drawn up containing their names and addresses, and circulated to every government department, town hall and railway station - anywhere the men might look for a job.
It was referred to in the Irish parliament - the Dail - at the time as a "starvation order", and for many of their families the phrase became painfully close to the truth.
I’ve never met anyone from Ireland who wasn’t an asshole. I’ll never understand why they think they’re so special
This is shameful. Ireland should be ashamed of itself, and it should formally apologize and make reparations to their families.
Had they joined many of their fellow Irish in America, they would have been welcomed with open arms.
Yes, this is a blip in Irish history which I find disgraceful. Rooting for Nazi’s.
In his speech celebrating the Allied victory in Europe (May 1945) Winston Churchill remarked that he had demonstrated restraint in not laying
‘a heavy hand upon Ireland, though at times it would have been quite easy and quite natural.’
Britain had occupied neutral Iceland in May 1940. In a response a few days later, de Valera acknowledged that Churchill did not add ‘another horrid chapter to the already bloodstained record’ of Anglo-Irish relations, but asked:[40][41]
“ ...could he not find in his heart the generosity to acknowledge that there is a small nation that stood alone, not for one year or two, but for several hundred years against aggression...a small nation that could never be got to accept defeat and has never surrendered her soul? ”
As someone of Irish descent...I have to laugh. I don’t quite agree with you but I kinda know what you’re saying!
But I have to say the men interviewed in this article look particularly wonderful. True heroes who bucked the Nazis and the IRA. Now that’s guts.
There is an anti-war song in the folk tradition, “The Green Fields of France”, written by Eric Bogle. While searching it up to add to my collection and possibly sing at our pub’s session, I discovered a reply to it. It appears to be pertinent to the thread, so here it is:
WILLIE MCBRIDE’S REPLY
Lyrics: Stephen L. Suffet
My dear friend Eric, this is Willie McBride,
Today I speak to you across the divide,
Of years and of distance of life and of death,
Please let me speak freely with my silent breath.
You might think me crazy, you might think me daft,
I could have stayed back in Erin, where there wasn’t a draft,
But my parents they raised me to tell right from wrong,
So today I shall answer what you asked in your song.
Yes, they beat the drum slowly, they played the pipes lowly,
And the rifles fired o’er me as they lowered me down,
The band played “The Last Post” in chorus,
And the pipes played “The Flowers of the Forest.”
Ask the people of Belgium or Alsace-Lorraine,
If my life was wasted, if I died in vain.
I think they will tell you when all’s said and done,
They welcomed this boy with his tin hat and gun.
And call it ironic that I was cut down,
While in Dublin my kinfolk were fighting the Crown.
But in Dublin or Flanders the cause was the same:
To resist the oppressor, whatever his name.
Yes, they beat the drum slowly...
It wasn’t for King or for England I died,
It wasn’t for glory or the Empire’s pride.
The reason I went was both simple and clear:
To stand up for freedom did I volunteer.
It’s easy for you to look back and sigh,
And pity the youth of those days long gone by,
For us who were there, we knew why we died,
And I’d do it again, says Willie McBride.
Yes, they beat the drum slowly…
My screen gets blurry sometimes...
> During WWII the IRA would light fires on roofs in Belfast to guide in German bombers.
That would be a VERY lost bomber. Look at the map.
You didn’t read the article.
How big was the Irish Army, anyway? Today, it's only 8,500.
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