Blog

#OnThisDay 1921 William McCarthy, from Kerry was killed by the RIC. McCarthy was an Intelligence Officer & was delivering dispatches. Captured outside of a church after confession, he was interrogated, tortured, then brought to a park in Tralee & shot dead. He was 25.
His body was found by a lady on her morning walk.
A patrol of Auxiliaries was passing on the far side of the park and when they heard the shots, they thought they were under attack and fired a distress flare for help and fled back to barracks.

#ireland #history

#OnThisDay The Squad took Resident Magistrate Alan Bell, from Offaly, 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.
Pic: Joe Leonard, Paddy O’Daly, Jim and Joe Slattery.

#ireland #history

#OnThisDay 1971 Sgt Thomas Birnie (right), from Belfast died of wounds while serving on his second tour of Vietnam with the 2nd Royal Australian Regiment. In a blue-on-blue incident, Birnie was hit by a sentry while returning to his platoon location. He was 31. #Ireland #History

#OnThisDay 1920 The first batch of Black and Tans arrived in Ireland. They are there to bolster an ailing Irish police force. Most of these men were ex-British soldiers from WW1. 1/5 of them were Irish. Very few had a criminal record. However, they created a lasting impression of brutality in Ireland.

P.S. I know this photo is of Auxiliaries and not Black and Tans but I think it’s hard to find a good picture of the Black and Tans that really conveys what they were and how they acted in Ireland.

#Ireland #History

#OnThisDay 1840 Captain Myles Keogh was born in Leighlinbridge, Carlow. He fought with the Papal Army in Italy & the Union army as a cavalry officer during the American Civil War at battles such as Gettysburg, Antietam & others. Keogh died at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, his body un-mutilated because of his bravery (He may have been left untouched because of his holy medal that he wore). His horse Comanche was the sole survivor of the battle and became the 7th Cavalry’s mascot for some years.
#Ireland #History