An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 27 fellas who were conscripted would say, "It isn't your war at all, why are you here?" They couldn't get over we'd volunteered. I told them we just wanted to see life or something like that'. The age-old pursuit of Irishmen longing to see the world was ever-present in Irish society during these times like it is today – but unlike today, the British Army was one of only a few mechanisms wherein you could experience a wider optic of "life". An Air Corps soldier stated, "I was in the Irish Army Air Corps up to 1942-43, and there was a mass exodus into the RAF". "By 1943, there was no risk of invasion of Ireland, and our time in the Army seemed a waste of time in many ways". He sought to use his skillset abroad. Widders quoted the soldier 'Ken McL' from Dublin, a British Army member during WWII. Ken explained how "lots of fellas from the Irish Army enlisted with me". They "wanted to see what was happening. They wanted some adventure…in fighting units". Joe Walsh of Athy further stated how "as far as I could make out, there were dozens of Irish Army deserters joining the British forces". The latter two consist of second-hand accounts – Ken and Joe were speaking for many men and a general feeling among ex-Defence Forces personnel with whom he would have shared innumerable speaking time reminiscing of home while deployed. Wills would write how for some deserters, 'the desire to use skills learnt in training in a meaningful way' played a role in their decision to desert. A soldier who would join the British Army during WWII, Don Mooney, stated: "We were a bunch of students…we didn't think very much about the depths of what was happening, it was just that it was going on. And I suppose honestly that it was the excitement of it, and the only thought we gave it probably was we didn't want to be wasting all this excitement by sitting out at the Curragh or Gormanstown or somewhere like that for the war. So, a lot of us just went up to Belfast and signed on the dotted line and went". Don was not a deserter. However, he gives an invaluable insight into the mindset of a young man who perhaps had joined the Irish Army and found himself in 'Gormo' or 'The Curragh' in uniform but sitting out the war. The perception among certain politicians reflecting after the war in determining their motives certainly ascribed the motive of seeking adventure. T.D. Coogan (F.G.) spoke on their motivations for deserting during the passing of the Emergency Order that created the Blacklist: "not going to defend the men who left their country during an Emergency, but many joined up in the hope that as the country was in danger, they would see active service here. Fed up with boredom and the routine of the barrack square, they left to engage in active fighting. Whatever the motive was, the majority left because they were active, adventurous soldiers". Traynor spoke in the Dáil post-war about the low recruitment levels into the regular armies and juxtaposed against those still travelling north to join the British Army: the men 'going up north or to Britain to join the Army abroad were going in the spirit of adventure. It was not that they did not want to serve Ireland. T.D. J. O'Leary speaking in the Dáil in 1948, said some of the deserters had "fighting blood and wanted to get into a real fight". While one could not venture as far as stating that men in this category were Walter Mitty's or adrenaline junkies - it is safe to assume that many did indeed wish to see and engage in combat – however ignoble such a motivation now seems to the contemporary reader. 'Those who deserted the Irish Army for the British were in effect swapping inert, defensive warfare for the challenges of mobilisation'. Even to this day, within the Defence Forces and international militaries (in their form of sobriquet), the divide among the troops of so-called 'barrack soldiers' and 'ground troops' remains. The divide entailed those who were content to undergo a career of garrison duties and those who sought to go on courses and exercises. During the Emergency, the ground-orientated troops of the Defence Forces were not satisfied with the organisation and sought their fix for adventure and action elsewhere. With this group of men, the perennial question of why Irishmen would voluntarily leave a country's neutral military that exposes themselves to danger is a frivolous and redundant one - one assumes all people look for safety and comfort – this is not the case. Private Thomas O'Duffy of the 5th Infantry Battalion, for instance, while being interrogated by Intelligence officers - having been caught as a deserter on leave from the British Army - spoke of how he had deserted because of 'too much duty, too many guards'. "I climbed into my first uniform partly for the fun of it". When the environment did not match these expectations and thoughts of fun quickly dissipated in favour of duties – the desire of a soldier to remain in an Irish uniform declined dramatically. In one of the few insights ascertained from surviving NOK of Irish deserters, a granddaughter of Thomas Flynn of Sligo stated how: "the thing he did tell me was that he came over and joined the British forces as he was bored and wanted to see some action". Even for those men who remained loyal, contemplating deserting to see action was natural and seemingly ever-present – at least in their desire to see some combat. Upon being asked whether they felt left out of the global conflict – a group of retired officers who had remained loyal and (some) reached the highest strata of the Defence Forces' ranks answered in the following manner: Lt. Col. Duggan: 'There was a sense of, if you had become bitten by the soldier's bug, a sense that it's a pity that we didn't see any active service and action'. 'There was the sort of sense of having missed out riding into battle', 'and there was a feeling of frustration, like when the Americans came down well-dressed and got all the women and everything else like that'. Brigadier-General Daly stated how: 'there was a certain feeling of anti-climax that the whole thing was over without having become embroiled in any fight. There will always remain individual reasons for deserting that time has rendered to the virtual scrapheap of history – that will never be known despite intense levels of mining. Even when some individually unique reasons for deserting do appear – they would seem to be the exception to the general rules/reasons described above. A perfect example is that of William Houlihan who in chasing love followed his partner across the Irish Sea and into the British Army. Another is the case of George Berrill of Drogheda who explained how: 'I was on a charge there; [I was a] bad boy. And someone told me I'd get six months, for being absent without leave, so I skipped'. Perhaps George is not alone in this regard, only his honesty makes him a seemingly unique case. John Malachy Daly of Co. Louth would desert from the Defence Forces after having crashed a car in Dundalk in which he was driving without any insurance. By the time of the hearing, it had been made aware to the justice presiding that he had since joined the British Army. Young men were idealistic but not ideological in that many still glorified war and the prospects of participating in it. This eagerness to witness and engage in military action was exponentially greater among the deserters for they had joined the Irish military at a time of great national danger, trained up on various weapon systems and thought they would see action – but would later find that no such action was forthcoming from the summer of 1941. With leave and discharge tightened to a stranglehold – the only option for many seeking such experiences was to desert. Lt General Dan McKenna, Chief of Staff of Defence Forces (1940-1949), faced many crises during his tenure including periods of spiked desertion during particular periods of WWII

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