An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 27 Medal for Gallantry (MMG) for his actions in the Niemba Am- bush in November 1960. We then visited the grave of General Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the Free State Army, who was killed during the Civil War in an ambush at Béal na mBláth on 22nd August 1922. His was regarded as one the largest state funer- als ever, with over 300,000 people lining the streets of Dublin for the cortege. A number of societies and individuals still visit his grave and lay fresh flowers regularly throughout the year. Next, we visited the tomb of the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell, who is remembered as one of Ireland's most prominent politi- cal leaders from the start of the 19th Century. Elected as an MP for Clare in 1828, he campaigned for the emancipation of Catholics and for the repeal of the Act of Union. Paddy told us O'Connell's resting place, which he says is "the most elegant tomb in Ireland", was completed in 1869 and now contains the remains of many of O'Connell's descendants. The tower, which was the subject of an unclaimed bombing in 1971, has undergone recent restoration and the new staircase will be opened in March 2018. In 1920 and 1921, during the War of Independence, ten republicans, including Kevin Barry, were executed and buried in unmarked graves in Mountjoy Prison, they remained there for some 80 years, until 14th October 2001, when nine of the 'Forgotten Ten', as they are sometimes referred to, were given a full state funeral and reinterred in Glasnevin Cemetery close to a Celtic cross that had been erected in their memory in 1996. (The tenth, Patrick Maher, was re-buried in Co Limerick in accordance with his family's wishes.) Another feature in the cemetery, beside the Cross of Sacri- fice, are the Memorial Walls which contain over 200 names of Irishmen who died during the during the First and Second World Wars and are buried in Glasnevin. Some 37 Irishmen were recipi- ents of the Victoria Cross (VC), the British Army's highest award for gallantry. Memorial stones are currently being placed for these 37 individuals, including Pte James Duffy VC, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who died on 27th December 1917, being the most recently unveiled. (See An Cosantóir February 2018.) We also visited the grave of Éamon De Valera, who com- manded the Volunteer garrison at Boland's Mills during the Rising; was the political leader of republican side in the War of Independence and of the anti-Treaty opposition in the ensuing Civil War; served as Head of Government six times; and was the third President of Ireland, serving the maximum term of 14 years from 1959-73. He died on 29th August 1975, aged 92. Glasnevin Cemetery's famous Republican Plot contains 80 burials, including the following:- The O'Rahilly, a founding member of the Irish Volunteers, and Director of Arms, who was shot and killed on 28th April 1916 on Moore Street as he was searching for an escape route out of the burning GPO; Elizabeth O'Farrell, a member of Cumann na mBan who cou- rageously tended the wounded in the GPO and who famously stood beside PH Pearse as he surrendered to the British on Saturday 29th April 1916; Constance Markievicz, the most famous of the Irish female revolutionaries, who fought at the College of Surgeons during the Rising. She was the first female to be elected to Westmin- ster, but never took up her seat, she died in 1927; Eoin O'Duffy, a republican leader in the border region in 1920, who became the first chief commissioner of An Garda Síochána in 1922, serving for 11 years. A staunch fascist, he founded the Army Comrades Association, otherwise known as the 'Blueshirts', bringing many of them to fight for Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. He returned to Ireland in ill health and died in 1944, aged 52. Before leaving the cemetery visit the delightful Sigerson Memo- rial beside the main gate, which was designed and paid for by Irish writer and poet Dora Sigerson-Shorter in memory of those who died in 1916. She lost many of her closest friends in the Rising and her poem 'The Sacred Fire' is inscribed on the back of the memo- rial. Dora died in 1918 and is also buried in Glasnevin. Visitors can also search Glasnevin's 1.5 million burials through the searchable database on the cemetery's website with 2,504 Fitzgeralds and 17 Wayne Fitzgeralds among them. As this article shows there is a lot more to Glasnevin Cem- etery than one might imagine. It is an unforgettable experi- ence walking past the resting places of many ordinary Dublin- ers buried side by side with so many of the country's greatest heroes and historical figures. General History Tours are conducted daily at 11.30am and 2.30pm and the Dead Interesting Tours at 1pm on Saturdays and on Sundays. The cemetery museum is open from 10am to 5pm daily. Contact +353 (01) 882 6550 or visit: www.glasnevintrust.ie.

• Cover