The Green Flag that is a Historical Red Flag

by

In this centennial year of 1916, it has been interesting to note the extreme and factually flawed measures of some revisionist in their desperate attempts to undermine the courage and cause of the men and women of the revolutionary generation.   One such example is the rewriting of WW I, which heretofore had usually been considered one of the greatest follies of mankind, into a noble crusade in an effort to reduce the Easter Rising to but a footnote in the period 1914-1918.    All through the … [Read more...]

The Childhood Friends Who Earned the Medal of Honor

by

In the historically Irish neighborhood of Woodside, Queens stands a monument to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the Vietnam War.  On the monument is inscribed the names of 27 young men from the local Zip Code of  11377,  more than from any other postal code in the nation to die in that conflict.   However, the Irish community of Woodside has another special distinction touching on the Vietnam War, the story of two childhood friends from that community who would both … [Read more...]

POBLACHT NA h-EIREANN

by

POBLACHT NA h-EIREANN THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the Irish … [Read more...]

James Connolly, Champion of the Irish Working Man and Woman

by

James Connolly was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1868. His parents were poor rural laborers from Monaghan that had traveled to the capital of Scotland in search of better opportunity only to settle in one of the city’s poorest sections, an Irish enclave in the Cowgate section nicknamed “Little Ireland”. Poverty was a constant childhood companion; forcing young Connolly to leave school at the age of ten and take work as a printer’s devil and then a baker’s assistant where he often worked 14 hour … [Read more...]

Sean Mac Diarmada, the “Mainspring of the Rising”.

by

Sean Mac Diarmada was born in Corranmore, near Kiltyclogher in County Leitrim, the third youngest of ten children. He grew up in an area scarred by the sad history of Ireland’s experience under English rule. Surrounding his boyhood home there was an ancient sweathouse, Mass rocks from the penal law days when the Catholic faith was illegal and priests hunted like wolves and countless abandoned homesteads as the silent testament to when England allowed Ireland to starve. These atrocities were … [Read more...]

Joseph Plunkett “more courage in his little finger than all the other leaders combined”.

by

On April 24, 1916 amidst the chaos of the newly seized Dublin General Post Office (GPO), a fifteen year old Roddy Connolly, acting as an aide to his father James Connolly, noticed a peculiar site. He saw men putting down a mattress in front of the stamps counter and a man in a resplendent uniform complete with saber then lying upon it while everyone else was dashing about him. Rather contemptuously he asked his father who this man was who was lying down during a revolution? James Connolly … [Read more...]

Eamonn Ceannt, Impassioned Heart of the Rising

by

Of the seven signers of the 1916 Proclamation Eammon Ceannt is likely, and unjustly, the least known. He did not possess the eloquence of Padraig Pearse nor the charisma of a James Connolly, but what he did possess a single-hearted devotion to Ireland and her people’s freedom and a willingness to sacrifice all in their cause. He deserves to be far better recognized as one of Ireland’s great patriots As with so many of the leaders of 1916, there was little in Ceannt’s early life that would … [Read more...]

Con Colbert, Forgotten Hero of 1916

by

In the aftermath of the Easter Rising, 16 men were executed for taking part in the fight for Ireland’s freedom.  Naturally, the majority of the attention falls upon the leader and the signatories of the Proclamation.  It would, however, be a grave injustice to not remember the other gallant men who willingly made the ultimate sacrifice for Ireland; among the foremost would be Con Colbert. Cornelius Colbert was born in Moanleana, Castlemahon, County Limerick; the ninth of thirteen children … [Read more...]

Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, the Ashes from which the Phoenix of 1916 Rose

by

Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was born Jeremiah O'Donovan in Reenascreena, County Cork on 10 September 1831. While he was the son of tenant farmers, the family could trace their ancestry back to nobler days when before the English confiscation of Irish land they had held the parish of Kilmeen, the honorary title "Rossa" coming from the town of Rossmore in that parish. Rossa saw the horrors of the Great Hunger and Britain's indifference to Irish suffering first hand as a child; losing his own father … [Read more...]

Major John MacBride; Accidental Rebel, Committed Patriot

by

Since the time of the Greeks, the myths and legends of heroes have followed a consistent pattern. The hero enjoys initial success and is catapulted to fame to only just as quickly have everything taken away from him and to fall from grace; then in the time of dire need the hero reemerges and asserts his nobility of character often by his personal sacrifice in the face of hopeless odds. Such is the story of Major John MacBride. John MacBride was born in Westport, County Mayo on 8 May 1868. … [Read more...]

Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week?

by

On Friday, April 24th 2015 we will mark the 99th Anniversary of the Easter Rising and the declaration of the Irish Republic. There has already been considerable commentary, which shall only intensify over the course of the coming year, as to the significance of the proclamation and the motives of the signers and key participants. There is a great deal of material for those who wish to "spin" the events to their agendas to work with when looking back at 1916 with 20-20 hindsight. Some … [Read more...]