[kearnyirish2]

Yes, even though Ireland was in the war itself (as part of the British forces); it was an opportunity that might not present itself again.

Given what happened in Spain from 1936-1939 (particularly the mass murder of clergy), it is odd that some FReepers think Ireland should have aligned itself with Stalin. That bloodbath in Spain convinced many even in France as well that Stalin was a far greater threat than Hitler.

[Rockingham]

The value of peace is appreciated most acutely by those with their own lives and safety at stake. In her last years, my sainted Dublin born grandmother happened to see on TV a movie dramatization of the burning of the General Post Office during th Easter Rebellion, which she had witnessed as a girl. For my grandmother and her family, the Rebellion was days of upset and danger as rebel gunmen roamed and exchanged shots with the British. Decades later, safe in a nursing home in Orlando, seeing a few minutes of Michael Collins was enough to trigger in my grandmother weeks of nightmares and daytime questions about danger from "the gunmen."