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#OnThisDay 1916 Éamonn Ceannt was executed in Kilmainham Gaol. He wrote to his wife

 “I die a noble death for Ireland’s freedom.” 

He also penned;

“I leave for the guidance of other Irish Revolutionaries who may tread the path which I have trod this advice, never to treat with the enemy, never to surrender at his mercy, but to fight to a finish…Ireland has shown she is a nation. This generation can claim to have raised sons as brave as any that went before. And in the years to come Ireland will honour those who risked all for her honour at Easter 1916.” 

“Ireland has shown she is a nation. This generation can claim to have raised sons as brave as any that went before.”

#OnThisDay 1915 The RMS Lusitania was torpedoed by U-20 (which initially took Casement to Ireland) 10 miles off the Irish coast, killing 1,198 people. She was carrying millions of rounds of ammo & other war materiel, which made her a valid military target, despite what the British authorities said she was holding in her cargo hold.
Over a hundred of the deceased were American citizens and this was one of the reasons used to get the US to join the Allies in the First World War.
This pressure brought a temporary end to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare. It was used to boost recruitment in Ireland, USA and Britain too.

#OnThisDay 1905 Fr Peter Paul Cooney, from Roscommon died. Fr Cooney was chaplain to the 35th Indiana “1st Irish Regiment”  during the American Civil War. Cooney was the longest serving Catholic chaplain during the war from 1861-1865, leaving for Notre Dame University. He wrote many letters to his brother detailing his war time experiences from speeches, to abolition of sin to taking soldiers pay and bringing it to their families.

#OnThisDay 1867 Pte Thomas Murphy, from Dublin, and four of his compatriots from the 24th Regiment of Foot (Later the South Wales Borderers) sailed out in a storm several times to rescue men stranded on the Sentinel Islands, whose ship had struck a reef. The stranded men had also been attacked by local tribesmen who were rumoured to be cannibals. For this, Murphy & the four others were later awarded the Victoria Cross.

What’s unusual about this is that that these medals were awarded not in the face of the enemy or in wartime.

#OnThisDay 1915 Captain Lewis William Corbally, a stock broker from Swords died from his wounds suffered at Yprés. Corbally has served in the Boer War & was made prisoner when captured at Lindley. At the outbreak of #WW1, he rejoined with the Royal Artillery.