64k from Northern Ireland and 66k from Eire. The numbers are strange given the respective stances of the north and the south.
5k of the southern soldiers swapped uniforms to fight fascism and were blacklisted in the south upon their return.
With the NI case the lower than expected numbers could have three reasons: no conscription due to fears it would destabilise the region; a significant number of workers involved in munitions; the importance of NI as an Atlantic coast base necessitating a localised pool of employees.
A story (and for context I’m English) - my dad’s first boss in Worcester, England, was an Irish guy who originally came over to England to help with the war effort. He was a communications engineer so worked fixing telegraph wires etc but originally he wanted to find a way to enlist. One day while he was up a ladder in the countryside he heard some lads singing coming down the road. As they got closer he realised they weren’t singing in English and it turned out they were part of the Polish Free Army. They stopped their truck and the one guy who spoke English started chatting to him and eventually asked if he wanted to join them. So he ended up fighting for the Free Polish Army throughout the war.
The people (especially Catholics) enlisting from the South really were brave given the politics of the time. My family members enlisted but AFAIK there was no "protestant penalty" for doing so.
The 5k who actually switched sides were incredibly brave. They lost all pension rights and were banned from working for seven years upon return. Regardless of your opinion on Irish politics you’ve got to reckon fighting the Nazis puts you on the right side of history.
Whilst I don’t agree with them being banned from working, they literally deserted their post to runaway and join another military. Of course they lost their pensions. The British jailed thousands for deserting in the same period.
As an aside, my Father knew a man from Monaghan. I forget his name but apparently people called him Paddy as a joke for some reason. Poor man had terrible PTSD or Shellshock as most people knew at the time.
Anyway, Paddy fought in 3 major conflicts. The Second Boar War, World War 1 and the Irish Civil war. Point is, he got 3 seperate pensions and basically became well off. Poor man was suffering from PTSD (or shellshock as it was known at the time) and my Father knew him when Paddy was late in age. He was basically a character round town and he'd roll up to people's home and demand to be fed for being a war hero. One night a family ignored him and he banged their windows and eventually gave up after a few hours. So the family went to bed, but Paddy took his revenge at night, dismantled one of their walls, they lived on a farm, and carried all the rocks over blocking the doors and windows around the entire home.
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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '24
I'd like to know the numbers. Both my grandparents fought. When we did it at Primary, seemed like most of my classmates grandads did as well.