Remembrance Sunday
Regardless of persuasion or background, the 35,000 Irishmen who perished in World War I should be remembered. Almost ninety years to the day, 11th November 1918, when an armistice with Germany was signed, the sacrifice of so many can never be forgotten.
Have a thought, say a prayer, for those who lost their lives in one of the world’s most devastating conflicts.
Tags: Remembrance Sunday, World War I
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November 14, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I for one am delighted that people from the Irish republic don’t wear poppies because it would be an insult to all the brave men that give up their lives for the freedom of Europe. I think it is outrages that the Irish nation would even contemplate hold services for Remembrance day because the Irish contributed absolutely zilch to the liberation of Europe, its disgraceful these parasites are allowed to rip off post-war Europe for subsidies
Ireland even took the opportunity of the British preoccupation with fighting the Great War to stage an uprising in Dublin at Easter 1916. Most Irish opinion at that time – Catholic & Protestant – was horrified by this. Granted we did over-reacted, put the Republicans up-against-the-wall, and shot them. Irish public opinion then swung the other way and the scene was set for a bloody civil war, the outcome of which was Partition.
During the 1939-45 war – again, Irish Republicans took advantage of the British preoccupation with clobbering the Germans (this time in the shape of Hitler) to mount another rebellion to conclude “unfinished business” – i.e. getting the Brits out of Ireland altogether. Working on the highly questionable principle that “any enemy of my enemy is my friend”, they bought weapons from the Nazis, set off bombs in Coventry, and generally caused chaos whenever & wherever they could. Much to Winston Churchill’s disgust, De Velera’s Free State remained neutral throughout.
The “Loyalists” concluded from all of this that the Irish Catholics – North & South – were treacherous, disloyal, not to be trusted. The scene was then set for the Troubles that erupted in the late 1960s, with both communities holding such overwhelmingly negative views of each other that only a spark was needed to kick-off inter-communal violence. The Civil Rights Movement provided that spark.
On a personal matter my family and I on a visit to Ireland have seen memorials obscenely defaced. I was personally assaulted, thumped and kicked in Dublin for wearing a poppy. My uncle (on his way in WW2 to join the RN and the fight against the Nazis) saw German U-boat sailors enjoying free time in the town of Cork, while it was closed to the British convoy escorts. The Irish government may, finally, have turned its coat to defend the cause of freedom – but in 1939 – 45 it was on the other side. Shame on the Irish for this and considering all that Britain have done for Ireland.