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A MEMORIAL TO honour six Limerick men who fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War will officially be unveiled in the grounds of Limerick City Hall today.
Gerard Doyle, Joe Ryan, Emmett Ryan, Paddy Brady, Frank Ryan and Jim Woulfe all joined the International Brigade in its fight with the Republican side against Franco’s Nationalist Army during the 1936-39 conflict.
Woulfe was killed fighting with a Canadian battalion during the Battle of Belchite in early September 1937 and is commemorated in a memorial in Ottowa in Canada. Emmet Ryan from Catherine Street died during the Battle of the Ebro River in July 1938 as Republican forces attempted to seize the small but strategically important town of Gandesa.
Of the four Civil War survivors, Joe Ryan joined the British Navy in World War Two and was killed when the HMS Dunvegan Castle was sunk by a U Boat off the northwest coast of Ireland in 1940.
Frank Ryan died of natural causes in Dresden, Germany in June 1944 and his remains were repatriated and interred at Glasnevin Cemetery more than three decades later. Gerard Doyle, then 63, died in Cornwall in March 1970, shortly after the death of fellow Civil War veteran Paddy Brady.
Today, the Cathaoirleach of Limerick City and County Council, Kevin Sheahan will be joined at the ceremony by 40 members of the International Brigades Memorial Trust and the men’s relatives who are travelling from all over Ireland, UK, USA, Canada and Australia. A sandstone sculpted memorial which features the six men’s names has been created and will be unveiled by Charlotte Ryan Watson, Frank Ryan’s grandniece.
“The men who fought with the International Brigade are commemorated around the world and it is fitting that those six ordinary Limerick men who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances will now be remembered in their native place,” commented Sheahan ahead of the event.
“It should also be said that a number of Limerick men who travelled to Spain in support of Franco subsequently fought Fascism during the Second World War and they are also remembered on this occasion.”
Good men and true, without a doubt. I wouldn’t be inclined to think that they were ever members of the Limerick Arch Confraternity.
No pasaran !!
You should look at doing an article on the men from Limerick who fought for Franco. My gran uncle fought for Franco and he came back and became a fransiscan friar in Wexford town. His name was father Leander Cleary. Really amazing stories he died about 20 years ago. We had loads of pictures of the Spanish civil war. My father gave them to rte.
And maybe an article about Irish men who joined the SS and fought for hitler and carried out the Final Solution. Or maybe the brave Irish men who joined ISIS and did great work slaughtering ancient minorities
you do realise your uncle fought for the wrong side…just saying
Right or wrong side shouldn’t we hear about and see the pictures of this sad but interesting story?
I for one would be very interested in hearing the stories about all Irish men and why they joined foreign armies and fought in brutal wars many miles from home.
Irish men fought on both sides of the American civil war, Mexican war with Texas, the Boar war, most European armies at some stage had an Irish battalion, as you said some even fought with the SS in WWII
Cathal I realise why you are being a bit sarcastic, and you are correct about the SS generally carrying out much of the genocide – and I agree and understand also the ‘guilty by association’ angle of being in such an organization like the SS. But in fairness I have not come across any information to date that claim those 2 Irishmen directly took part in the genocide of the Final Solution. I am open to correction on this.
I would also echo the sentiment of Brian and eric. It really is quite remarkable the history of Irish men serving in so many wars and conflict zones down through the centuries, regardless of the rights and wrongs of who they fought for.
Interesting perhaps, but we must avoid glorifying fascism as it rears its ugly head once more. Someone who took up arms to fight a democratically elected government and proclaims to have fought for the pope makes me slightly uncomfortable. Of the six SS divisions, five were non German born. We can see this far right threat in Europe today; Ukraine, Britain, holland, France. Glorify it all you want, but don’t ignore its threat
No one here is glorify fascism or socialism or republicanism, what interests me and I’d imagine most others is what entices Irish men and women to join a foreign army, is like to hear their story from beginning to end. Is it some romantic notion, is it financial is it the sense of adventure or perhaps media propaganda?
Understanding the reasons why men used to go to war will help us prevent volunteers in modern society, why are thousands of Muslims flocking to ISIS at the moment? Or understand the rise of extremist groups, both left and right around the world.
Well put eric.
@d4 ,,,, as in any CIVIL WAR there really is no right or wrong side because after it’s all settled down they will be sitting on opposite sides of a parliament … my family lost uncles & close friends on both side in both our own & the Spanish civil wars & to see the looks of anguish on those that were left when their names are mentioned is heart breaking
Peter, you clearly have no understanding of the Spanish civil war if you think the two sides were sitting opposite each in parliament after the war. And there was a right side, the democratically elected side
@peter. I’d imagine the American civil war had a right side to be on. Regardless of the motivation for ending slavery or the fact that it was not fought for just that end I would say that the north was the right side to be on.Sometimes there is a right side to be on and in the spanish war it was not the side of Franco and fascism.Tyranny of the majority springs to mind with regard to that kind of democracy.
Spain had a democratically elected government with an all encompassing parliament and had planned major reforms to bring Spain into the 20th century but because the nobles, clergy and ruling classes had their positions challenged they backed a coup d’etat against the second republic which led to a 40 year dictatorship with terrible reprisals against all who were suspected of supporting the second republic. The post war was worse than the actual fighting. Even today there are thousands of mass graves all over Spain where people have an ancestor buried some know where they are others don’t but when they look for justice they are snubbed but all the fascists know where their loved ones are buried and have campaigned for them to be beatified like martyrs in a holy war
You miss the point entirely …. Armed conflict with all the horrors that it brings to BOTH sides of the a civil war will always be harder on the populace,, the combatants are there by choice ,,, History is written by the victors …. But in the long run truth will prevail weather we like it or not
@ peter, well done there, you do know that the Spanish civil war is the one war where the history was actually written by the losers. Writers like Orwell, philby, Hemingway, herbst, Malraux, korstler
Yes I agree Eric , it would be interesting , I think I will try to get a book or books about it.
@ Michael O’CONNELL …. We had an great uncle & a family friend that died @ Jarama & for over 40 yrs didn’t know where they were buried ,,, how is that making ” history was written by the losers ” ?
Frank Ryan seems like a strangle enough fellow. He goes to Spain to fight against fascism only to settle in Nazi Germany, where I believe he was recruited by German intelligence.
He actually sailed from NYC on false papers to Germany and actually died in a U boat of a bust appendix. He was not a fascist in any way but was trying to get some arms from Germany for the IRA. The enemy of my enemy is my friend!
You are confusing him with Sean Russell who did die on board a U-Boat. Either way, collaborating with Nazi Germany for any reason was a highly dubious path to take.
Cathal i wasn’t talking about sides etc etc I am talking about a story that chronicles their experiences. It might be interesting for people to see and hear about all experiences of irish men in fighting foreign wars. My father asked Uncle Leander why he fought for Franco. To which he replied quite resolutely “Have you ever seen a Nun nailed to a church door! ” I think reading into it now Uncle Leander was fighting for the Pope more than Franco.
Did he see the nun nailed to a church door before he went off to fight democracy in the name of fascism with Franco, backed up by his good friends adolf and benito?
There was an interesting article here last December about a Swede and a Finn who fought in the GPO during the Easter Rising. Not sure if they’d a word of English between them..
Hey! Will Christy Moore be there for the unveiling?
Bertie Ahern will be. He is starting to get a little bit of confidence back.
On a lighter note….. They are rocking the same hair styles as most of the young lads of today!!!
What brave men to fight a noble cause in another country. I salute their memories.
The right side won the war and prevented further massacres and rapes of nuns and priests and other heinous crimes against ordinary Spanish people who refused to renounce their religion and their national pride. Significantly more Irishmen fought on the right side against the communist terrorists funded by Stalinist Russia and International Bolshevism than fought with the rabble coalition of anarchists, socialists, communists and other anti-nationalist forces.
So Hitler Franco Mussolini good. Democratic government bad.
Usually with priests and rape it’s the other way around! Good trolling!
Eire Calling, are you really serious? Such a load of BS. You should be on Fox News!
Eire calling you don’t even merit a reply, but I bet you would love to live under the thumb of the bishops again, right back to the dark ages
They fought against Fascism while the Blueshirts were fighting for it!
Good article here on Limerick’s role in the Spanish Civil War (as feat. in the Old Limerick Journal, Authors: Des Ryan and Barrie Wharton) http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/Media,4139,en.pdf
Ah there it is I used it as my profile picture on Facebook.
I can’t upload a photo for some reason it’s it my Gran Uncle meeting Franco. I will send it to the author and see if she will share it.
A limerick man fighting for the other side.
How about a memorial about the Hunger Strikers who fought for IRELAND’S FREEDOM!!!! ‘Oh no!! They were evil terrorists!!!!!! (heavy sarcasm.)’
This is a subject that still divides Spaniards. It is difficult to show sympathy for a fascist dictator against a democratic elected government, also difficult to support a extreme left government ready to support revolution that would finish democracy.
These were the options for the Spanish citizens in 1936.
My Grandfather fought for the Spanish Republic when he was a teenager, said he was dodging Communist bullets as much as Fascist ones at the end. He escaped and joined the British Army in ’39. I learned to swear in Spanish from him :-)
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