Every life lost in war deserves same respect

Some say we should forget about wars. However, rather than glorify or celebrate them, we should remember every gory detail to try to prevent further conflicts, writes Ryle Dwyer

The erection of the Wall of Remembrance in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin, opened last week, has already provoked some hostile comment.

It looks like the famous Vietnam Wall in Washington DC. The names are inscribed on a polished black granite surface so that those standing at the wall sees their own reflection in the background. That is a poignant reminder that they could so easily be among the names, which really applies to any war.

The big difference between the two is that the wall in Glasnevin includes the name of all the people killed during the Easter Rebellion of 1916, not just those who fought on one side.

“The bullets didn’t differentiate between people,” according to Conor Dodd, the cemetery’s historian. He was one of the researchers involved in finding the names of all the people killed in the Easter Rebellion.

When they began their research they were looking for the names of 485 people but they came up with 488. Most of those killed — 268—were civilians, and Joe Duffy noted in his magnificent book, Children of the Rising, that 38 were children aged 16 or younger.

The dead included 142 Crown soldiers and policemen, and 58 of those were Irishmen. The rebel deaths totalled 62 in the fighting, as well as the 16 leaders who were later executed. They are rightly listed on what is being called the necrology Wall of Remembrance.

Some have taken exception to listing all of the names. James Connolly’s great grandson, James Connolly Heron, feels he should be able to remember and pay tribute to those “who fought and died in the cause of Irish freedom”.

“If we remember everybody in general, we’re paying tribute to nobody in particular,” he contends. “The people who fought and died in the cause of Irish freedom, we should be able to remember and pay tribute to them separately. It is a stand-alone event.”

Enda Kenny speaking at Glasnevin cemetary

That anybody would now suggest that we should only remember the 78 rebels, and just forget about the other 316 Irish people who died in the conflict, is particularly offensive to the memory of those people who claimed to be acting in the interest of all Irish people.

The Glasnevin wall is a magnificent reminder of the events 1916 that can bring people together from all sides, because it demonstrates a parity of esteem. Strictly speaking it is a “Necrology Wall” — necrology being a list of people who have died within a certain time. Unfortunately, most people have never heard of necrology, and some may think sounds akin to the deadly perversion, necrophilia.

In more than 50 years of writing about history, I have done in-depth research into several wars and have found that those most involved in the various conflicts usually talked least. That was particularly true of our War of Independence, with a couple of notable exceptions.

As the son of a soldier killed in the Second World War, I have always been acutely aware of the destruction of war. Some people think we should forget about wars. Rather than glorify or celebrate wars, however, we should remember them in all their gory detail in the hope of preventing further conflict.

I have already written in this newspaper about the chance finding on the internet of the man who was with my father when he was shot, and who was decorated for trying to save him 65 years earlier. A member of that man’s family told me he never talked about the war with his children, but he began to open up a bit with his grandchildren.

In 1947, the Fianna Fáil government made a magnificent contribution to our history by establishing the Bureau of Military History, which was supported by succeeding governments over the next 11 years in collecting 1,773 witness statements from survivors of the War of Independence.

Many of those men would have taken valuable historical information to their grave about their involvement had they not been assured that their statements would not be released during their lifetimes. A few men published memoirs, but most were afraid to speak out lest that anybody would think they were behaving like a couple of notable loudmouths.

In writing Tans, Terror and Troubles, a history of the War of Independence in Kerry, I found there were too many loose ends prior to the release of the witness statements. I had access to statements by Con Brosnan and Tom McEllistrim, which were very valuable, but the statement of Tadhg Kennedy, the Intelligence Office of the Kerry No. 1 Brigade, threw the most light on many of those loose ends.

He had invaluable contacts providing information during the conflict. Those included two RIC County Inspectors, a District Inspector, and the head of the local special branch of the day. That was information that he could not have released publicly during their lifetime. “Practically all” of the RIC in Kerry were “on side with the IRA”, according to Kennedy.

The Secretary of the Celtic League complained, however, about the inclusion of the names on the Glasnevin Wall of members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) who were killed in the Easter Rebellion. Were those men given any chance to help their countrymen? Two of the IRA’s most effective agents were members of the DMP — Ned Broy and David Neligan, and the DMP as a whole was far from hostile to the IRA.

“Many of the greatest successes we gained were gained entirely by true men who stood for us in the enemy service,” Michael Collins told a dinner in Naas on April 16, 1922. Some people were complaining that he was using former members of the DMP and RIC to help organise the new Garda Síochána, but he stressed that those were “men who stood with us always”.

“We are not one bit ashamed of it,” he added. “Not only are we not going to apologise, but we are very proud to have them, and very glad to have them.”

The Celtic League contends that including the Crown forces amounts to a signal to Northern nationalists that the rest of the island endorses the behaviour of those who terrorised them over the last 40 years. But the Glasnevin Wall has nothing to do with the Troubles.

These people opposing the Glasnevin Wall have been engaging in sheer hypocritical posturing with their hollow protestations in supposed favour of Irish unity.

The unionist people of the North are not going to surrender or move out, and the overwhelming majority of the Irish people have formally accepted that they cannot and should not be coerced, so the only road to unity is through mutual respect for the rights of all. That will not come about by the perpetuation of division and disharmony.

The Glasnevin Wall is a magnificent step forward that should be welcome by all decent Irish people who desire to break down the barriers and promote real unity, which must be based on a parity of esteem.