Thread: Irish Government pardons WWII soldiers.

Ireland pardons soldiers who deserted to fight Hitler

(Reuters) - The Irish government on Tuesday pardoned thousands of servicemen who deserted to fight for the Allied forces during World War Two after the Irish state decided to remain neutral in the war against Adolf Hitler's Germany.

Ireland maintained its neutrality throughout the war, saying any other course would have threatened its independence, secured from Britain in 1921, and President Eamon DeValera signed a book of condolences on the death of Hitler in 1945.

About 60,000 people from the Irish state fought in the British Forces during the war, including some 7,000 servicemen who deserted from the Irish armed forces.

The Irish government summarily dismissed all of those who deserted and disqualified them from state employment for seven years. Relatives say the deserters were stigmatized for decades.

"The government apologizes for the manner in which those members of the defense forces who left to fight on the Allied side during World War Two were treated after the war by the state," Minister for Justice and Defense Alan Shatter said in an address to parliament.

"In the almost 73 years since the outbreak of World War II, our understanding of history has matured," he said. "It is time for understanding and forgiveness."

Some former Irish officers have objected to the decision, saying pardoning deserters, whatever the circumstances, undermines the Irish armed forces.

But relatives, who have campaigned for years for a pardon, welcomed the move.

"It's not going to change the history, but it will remove the stigma," said Peter Mulvany, who led the campaign for the soldiers, in comments to state broadcaster RTE.

Ireland's relations with historic foe Britain are at their warmest for decades. The pardon comes year after a visit by Queen Elizabeth to Ireland, the first by the British sovereign since independence.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85B1AB20120612

Long overdue but I think a step in the right direction. Should have been done years ago but getting that from a FF government would have been next to impossible however much lip service they paid to the idea.

The Irish Government should always be looking forward to forgiving Irish soldiers.

But never, never pardon English ones.

Good post Ryan. I know this is about the Irish military and not the IRA but the same point applies. My grandfather was a former IRA volunteer, who was active in the IRA England campaign in the late 1930's, who was sickened by his comrades embrace of Nazi Germany during WW2. He wrote back home from London pleading for his comrades to support Britain in its fight with Hitler and was clear eyed about the menace of fascism being a Gaelic/ English/ German scholar. He split with the IRA in 1939 and volunteered to fight the Nazis in the British Amry but due to his weak eyesight was placed in the Home Guard. He was killed on duty in an Air Raid by a German bomb in 1941 and is buried in London with a Gaelic inscription on his tomb.

His principled desertion of a Nazi collaborating IRA (who would guide the Luftwaffe to bomb Belfast) led to a family schism. His brother refused to spak to him again. The man was an Irish patriot but also an anti-fascist who found that the conservative nationalism of the IRA spewed him out of his country's struggle. What was it Joyce called Ireland? "The sow that eats her children". Never more so in this case.