Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John W. Hurley on June 3, 2013 at 11:11am

Joe, I understand how you feel, honestly, but you just haven't read up on it enough to understand. These men FOUNDED the IRA of 1916. They had every intention of going home to fight for Ireland, but they died fighting in America because America had been such a good ally to them by providing them freedom and safe haven away from home. They themselves claimed that they were fighting for both Irish freedom and American freedom, not I.

And I do feel that it is highly insulting to those men who died doing this to claim that because a man born and raised in Ireland who has sworn to fight for Ireland died in that fight for Ireland in the IRA regiment of the United States, that he is not "entitled" to be considered an actual IRA man somehow because he didn't die fighting *in* Ireland. It sounds like that is what you are saying. Are you? Please see my post (with the Fenian symbols) above and then read up on IRB/IRA leader John Devoy (as only one example) to understand the historical veracity of my assertion. 

Thanks,

John

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Permalink Reply by Joe Mc Gowan on June 3, 2013 at 12:19pm

I'm not much for engaging in blogs John.  Patrick Sarsfield's comment comes to mind when he died fighting with the French on another battlefield, I think it was in Flander's: 'Would that this were for Ireland'.  
Such a sad history we have had and so many might have beens...
It is such a great thing that our diaspora have such an interest in the homeland.  Beir bua is beannacht  (Wishing you victory and blessings)   

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Permalink Reply by John W. Hurley on June 3, 2013 at 1:47pm

Me either Joe. Thanks. I haven't read this book I just found it, but it looks like it would be helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/Harp-Eagle-Irish-American-Volunteers-1861-186...

Cavanaugh's memoir of General Thomas Francis Meagher will also explain it:

http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Gen-Thomas-Francis-Meagher/dp/1113818...

John Devoy's "Recollections of an Irish rebel: The Fenian movement. Its origin and progress. Methods of work in Ireland and in the British army,"
Will also be of great help but I couldn't find any on-line version.

All the best,

John

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Permalink Reply by James McKinley on May 25, 2014 at 3:18pm

Mr. Hurley, I appreciate your insight and enjoy reading your posts, and I agree with your point # 1 above. Nevertheless, I take exception to your point # 2 and the verbiage "Our enemy the Confederate States of America." I think nowadays you have to look at the American Civil War, (as well as the Irish Civil War of the 1920s), in the context of the times as Mr. Paul Burns has done at http://www.sligoheritage.com/archconfedirish.htm. Were the 40,000+ Irishmen who served in the Confederate cause our enemies? 

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Permalink Reply by Gerry Regan on May 30, 2013 at 4:24pm

My father's grandfather, Lawrence 'Turk' Condon, was a remarkable young Irish-American who died 9 weeks before the Armistice, fighting in France in the Army's 27th Division, aka "Ryan's Roughnecks." Reminds me of the haunting question, "Do you want to be the last to die in the war?" I have a trove of letters he wrote from training camp in South Carolina and from the trenches of France, including the short one to the left, seemingly his last before his death. I treasure them. His brother Jack served with the U.S. Navy during the war and was posted at Cobh, then known as Queenstown, for a while. I have a few of his letters from there. He survived the war. I'll see if I can post copies of a few other letters of his from the war.

http://thenewwildgeese.com/profiles/blogs/a-soldier-s-story-sgt-law...

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Permalink Reply by John W. Hurley on May 30, 2013 at 5:40pm

Lawrence 'Turk' Condon really was remarkable Gerry!!

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Permalink Reply by Ryan O'Rourke on May 30, 2013 at 4:52pm

My last Irish-born ancestor arrived in Philadelphia in the 1730s.  Each of his sons fought in the Revolutionary War against the very ones who necessitated their own father's emigration from The Homeland.  LIke many of the early Irish immigrants, they probably made some of the best and most motivated soldiers given the context of the conflict.

I know some of their descendants fought in the American Civil War, but I'm still trying to determine which side they were on.  They were all from eastern Kentucky, so they actually could have gone either way.

My grandfathers on both sides fought in World War II -- one in Europe, and the other in the Pacific.

All Irish-Americans.

Whether or not any of their brothers fought and died, I do not know.

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Permalink Reply by Gerry Regan on May 30, 2013 at 5:00pm

Any images, Ryan. I enjoy seeing these family heirlooms, when they are available.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan O'Rourke on May 30, 2013 at 5:09pm

Yes ... I'm sure I can get a couple family members to dig up a photo of my two grandfathers who fought in WWII.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan O'Rourke on June 3, 2013 at 9:42am

Here's my grandfather on my mom's side, Gerald Abell.  Abell is an English name, but there's plenty of Irish in his pedigree.  He was a Seabee in the U.S. Navy who spent all his time in the South Pacific during WWII, and I swear E.C. Segar received his inspiration for Popeye the Sailor Man from looking at my grandpa (right down to the bulging forearms and corncob pipe)!

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Permalink Reply by Gerry Regan on June 3, 2013 at 9:48am

Ryan, thanks for sharing these. Looks like the pix were taken stateside -- boot camp, perhaps, Great Lakes Naval Station?

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Permalink Reply by Ryan O'Rourke on June 3, 2013 at 9:52am

Definitely taken while he was still in the U.S.  The one of him in the photography studio has "Paramount Studio, Providence, R.I." on the matting.  I guess he must have shipped out from somewhere around that area.

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