Britain pardons Irishmen executed in World War I

VINDICATED relatives yesterday welcomed the British pardon announced for 26 Irishmen executed for military offences during World War I.

The men were pardoned under legislation enacted yesterday in Britain.

Private Patrick Joseph Downey, the son of a Limerick couple, was 18 when he enlisted in the British army.

Having survived the Allies Gallipoli campaign in Turkey, the young Irishman died, blindfolded, on December 29, 1915, shot at in the heart at dawn by a firing squad from his own division.

After being punished for a number of minor misdemeanours,

he had been ordered one morning to pick his cap up from the mud while being tied to the cartwheel. He refused twice and was court martialled and later shot.

Speaking yesterday, his great nephew Christy Walsh said it was an emotional day for the family.

“It has been an emotional rollercoaster the last number of years. My family has been vindicated after viewing that he was killed as an example. No doubt the rest of the family are having a great laugh now, looking down on this from above.”

Mr Walsh, whose grandfather also served in the British army, will join other relatives of those pardoned yesterday for a wreath-laying ceremony in the War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge, Dublin on Saturday.

The relative of the executed soldier praised “the trojan work” undertaken by campaigners to have the Irishmen pardoned.

The Shot at Dawn campaign was led by Peter Mulvaney who yesterday was overwhelmed the men’s names were being cleared, 90 years after they were shot dead by firing squads for alleged “cowardice and desertion”, among other reasons.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern welcomed the British initiative, which was part of a pardon for a total of 300 soldiers.

He said it showed the men met a fate they did not deserve.

The names of the 26 Irish volunteers executed while fighting for the Allies are be added to the Irish National War Memorial Records.