TY - CONF

T1 - Fighting in the Shamrock’s Shadow

T2 - Lancaster Historical Postgraduate Conference

AU - Pomeroy, Alex

PY - 2024/6/14

Y1 - 2024/6/14

N2 - How do complex regional identities interact with global events? Military service within the Allied crusade against fascism is usually remembered as an honourable act of sacrifice, especially as we commemorate the eightieth anniversary of some of the conflict’s most vicious campaigns throughout 2024. However, for the 70,000 volunteers from the Irish Free State, their decision to aid Ireland’s former colonial ruler as members of the British military represented a betrayal of strongly held national and cultural identities within a nascent state attempting to assert its independence. A member of the British Commonwealth, the Irish Free State (not to become a republic until 1949) under Éamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil government remained neutral throughout the war, and outlawed citizens from serving with foreign powers. Despite this, Irish citizens served on land, in the air and across oceans during every campaign of the conflict, from the Phoney War of 1939 to the final Japanese surrender of September 1945, and the treatment they received from their families and friends ranged from absolute pride to intense societal stigma. In this paper I will explore the experiences of a selection of the Irish volunteers to demonstrate the complexity and variety of Irish identities surrounding the issue of serving the British during their darkest hour. From die-hard Republican veterans to those of Anglo-Irish sympathies, the volunteers and their families represented a cross section of an incredibly diverse society still reeling from centuries of British rule.

AB - How do complex regional identities interact with global events? Military service within the Allied crusade against fascism is usually remembered as an honourable act of sacrifice, especially as we commemorate the eightieth anniversary of some of the conflict’s most vicious campaigns throughout 2024. However, for the 70,000 volunteers from the Irish Free State, their decision to aid Ireland’s former colonial ruler as members of the British military represented a betrayal of strongly held national and cultural identities within a nascent state attempting to assert its independence. A member of the British Commonwealth, the Irish Free State (not to become a republic until 1949) under Éamon de Valera’s Fianna Fáil government remained neutral throughout the war, and outlawed citizens from serving with foreign powers. Despite this, Irish citizens served on land, in the air and across oceans during every campaign of the conflict, from the Phoney War of 1939 to the final Japanese surrender of September 1945, and the treatment they received from their families and friends ranged from absolute pride to intense societal stigma. In this paper I will explore the experiences of a selection of the Irish volunteers to demonstrate the complexity and variety of Irish identities surrounding the issue of serving the British during their darkest hour. From die-hard Republican veterans to those of Anglo-Irish sympathies, the volunteers and their families represented a cross section of an incredibly diverse society still reeling from centuries of British rule.

M3 - Conference paper

Y2 - 13 June 2024 through 14 June 2024

ER -