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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| WWII Irish Republic 'deserters' pardoned |
| 2013-05-08 |
| The Irish parliament has passed legislation granting a pardon to thousands of soldiers who left the armed forces of the Republic of Ireland to serve with Allied forces during World War Two. The Irish Republic remained neutral in the conflict between 1939 and 1945. In order to fight, thousands of soldiers left Ireland and the Irish army to join British forces. The men were found guilty by military tribunals of going absent without leave and branded deserters. After the war they faced discrimination, lost their pensions and were barred from holding jobs paid for by the state. Last year, the Irish government apologised for the way they were treated. The legislation to pardon them was passed on Tuesday and will be signed into law by the Irish president within days. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #8 Yes I do, P2K. Over three decades of amateur naval history research have not been done in a vacuum. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-05-08 21:35 |
| #7 ..spoke a variation of the King's English.. You realize that unlike contemporary 'American', those of the recently separated colonies still sounded pretty damn English. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-05-08 18:22 |
| #6 British impressed more than 15,000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars In all fairness, during those times and taking into context the military and political the Bristish were facing, there was a) a shortage of skilled sailors in both merchant and naval fleets, b) plenty of deserters from the Royal Navy, c) a non-recognition of naturalized US citizenship (which the US, being short of its own sailors, offered as an inducement) and d)widespread use of forged identity papers by sailors. Sailors rightfully and honorably separated from the RN or in a protected trade (such as a waterman or ferryman)were given a paper that prohibited the RN from impressing them. Lacking that paper - which, unless the man was an idiot, they guarded with their lives - if a sailor looked like a sailor (as opposed to a landsman) spoke a variation of the King's English, looked Anglo-Saxon enough, or identified by someone as having served aboard a HMS, that was good enough for the RN. Perfidious Ablion, perhaps. But not taking all that in context is nearly as perfidious. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-05-08 16:37 |
| #5 A bit late in the day to be pardoning men who left an impotent 'army' which was set to sit on the sidelines of the most important war in history to go and fight Nazis, methinks. Whichever way you paint it, Irish neutrality during the second war was as shameful as Sweden and Switzerland's. There are no excuses or justifications. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2013-05-08 15:44 |
| #4 British impressed more than 15,000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars. Throughout history, the British have been masters of the tactic. The promise of citizenship helps fill the ranks of nations in population decline as well. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-05-08 08:37 |
| #3 Four out of ten British troops who landed at Normandy were Irish. When you consider the disparity in the population size of the two countries, you have to wonder if they weren't just being used as cannon fodder. |
| Posted by: tipper 2013-05-08 03:52 |
| #2 re: Brist and Kenya... Will these people looking at restitution also to hit up the Mau Mau tribesmen descendants for restitution to be paid to the families of the British colonials who were brutally killed in the Lari massacre and other atrocities committed by theMau Mau? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-05-08 02:00 |
| #1 Alongside many Scots, hundreds of thousands of Irishmen served the Crown in the Boer War and again in the Great War [WWI]. In 1919 came the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil war which resulted in the partitioning of Ireland by the United Kingdom. As you might imagine, the British partitioning did not set well with the nationalists and had not been forgotten at the onset of WWII. The division and ill will lingers on today. Interesting to note that after seven decades the repair came from within the Irish Government itself. In other news, the British government is reviewing restitution for the Mau Mau resulting from British Colonial military actions during the insurgency in Kenya during the 1950's. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-05-08 01:21 |