#OnThisDay 1895 James McCudden V.C.,a WW1 pilot ace with 57 kills, was born in Kent to an Irish father &English mother. McCudden was the first to shoot down 4 enemy in one day & once shot down 3 in 20 mins. He died in 1918 when his plane stalled & crashed.
#OnThisDay 1836 Lt. Col. Patrick O’Rorke was born in Cavan but later moved to Rochester, NY. O’Rorke graduated first of his class at West Point Academy 1861. He commanded the 140th NY & fought at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg but died at Gettysburg.
#OnThisDay 1917 Frederick Watson Harvey, from Meath, was under heavy machinegun-fire, ran forward of his men, jumped the enemy barbed wire, shot the machine-gunner & captured the gun. For this, he got the Victoria Cross.
Harvey had two caps for @IrishRugby.
#OnThisDay 1872 Irish republican politician Mary MacSwiney was born in London. MacSwiney was educated in Cambridge, founded Cumann na mBan Cork branch, arrested after the Easter Rising while in class, opposed the Treaty & was Vice President of Cumann na mBan.
#OnThisDay 1920 The Squad took Resident Magistrate Alan Bell off a tram in Dublin & shot him dead. Bell had been investigating the assassination attempt on Lord French & had confiscated £71,000 from the IRA in his investigation of the IRA’s finances.
The Irish at War 