Reminiscence of fallen National Army troopers ‘rehabilitated’ as monument unveiled
T
he rededication of a memorial to the National Army troopers killed within the Civil War allows their reminiscence to be rehabilitated, a ceremony in Dublin has heard.
Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sean Clancy paid tribute to the some 810 troopers killed serving on the Free State facet within the 1922-23 battle as he addressed the occasion at Glasnevin cemetery on Sunday.
Descendants of a few of those that died, consultant of all 4 provinces on the island of Ireland, have been invited visitors on the ceremony, amongst them kin of Michael Collins, the commander in chief of the National Army who was killed in 1922.
Government coalition companions Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Micheal Martin, the leaders of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, the 2 principal events cast from the divisions of the Civil War, additionally attended the rededication of the National Army Monument.
Sinn Fein TD Matt Carthy additionally attended the army commemoration, as did Dublin Lord Mayor Daithi de Roiste.
Prior to the ceremony, there was no monument in Ireland particularly devoted to the troopers of the National Army who fought towards the anti-Treaty facet within the Civil War.
Weeks after the conflict ended, on August 3, 1923, the Oireachtas handed laws that led to the creation of the modern-day Irish Defence Forces, Oglaigh na h Eireann.
The rededication occasion for the forgotten fallen of the National Army, which had already adopted the identify Oglaigh na h Eireann through the Civil War, came about on the Sunday previous to the centenary of that date.
“It is appropriate then, in the spirit of real inclusiveness, of ethical remembering, and with a full desire to deal with some of the more uncomfortable aspects of our shared history, that we remember some of 810 uniformed members of Oglaigh na h Eireann who gave their lives in the service of the state during the tragic and critical period at the foundation of our democracy,” Lt Gen Clancy informed the ceremony.
“For far too long there has been no memorial of any kind, nor any complete listing of the National Army war dead.
“Indeed, this year represents perhaps the last real opportunity to rectify that.”
The stays of some 180 of the 810 troopers who died serving within the National Army are buried on the plot in Glasnevin cemetery.
“Sources at the archives show that the average soldier buried here was in his early 20s, was unmarried and from a working-class background,” mentioned Lt Gen Clancy.
“Many had previously served in the IRA during the War of Independence, some even in the 1916 rising, many others had served in the British Army, underlying yet again how complex is the weave of Irish history.”
The chief of workers highlighted the “poignant example” of two younger Belfast-born Dublin-raised brothers – Frederick (18) and Gerald McKenna (16) – who have been buried in Glasnevin after being killed collectively in motion in Cork in August 1922 solely a month after becoming a member of the National Army.
“Whatever the often very legitimate reasons our forebears may have had for forgetting in the intervening 100 years, I think it’s appropriate now that I as the 32nd Chief of Staff of Oglaigh na h Eireann should finally take this opportunity to rehabilitate their memory,” mentioned Lt Gen Clancy.