A chara, – I must take issue with Fergal Tobin’s dismissal of the Easter lily and his espousal of an emblem promoted by the establishment of “the larger island”(November 13th).
My father smuggled the first Easter lilies into the North in a painter’s bucket in 1928. Far from being a fascist, he was, like his father before him a lifelong trade unionist. Neither was his connection with the War of Independence “remote”; at age 18 he had served under Frank Aiken in the 4th Northern Division. He died before the conflagration that gave birth to the Provisional IRA.
Like thousands of other Northern nationalists, by no means all IRA supporters, he proudly wore the lily every Easter. He did this not only to honour the men and women of Easter week, but also to assert his identity in a hostile state wherein he had been abandoned by successive Dublin administrations who mostly gave lip-service to Irish unity, or in some cases not even that. None of the estimable “members of the Oireachtas, people in the media, business and the learned professions”, cited by Mr Tobin proffered an acceptable alternative.
Hence the lily remained a cherished and potent symbol for the abandoned, the betrayed and the marginalised, especially north of the Border.
The first World War was fought, ostensibly to free small nations”, notably Belgium, a ravening colonial exploiter. In its early days the poppy was promoted and popularised by the notorious Earl Haig,dubbed “Butcher Haig“ by his own soldiers. The emblem came to promiscuously commemorate all who gave armed service to the “larger island”.
If such service involved mass murder in Amritsar or Derry, or forcing Mau Mau suspects to eat their own testicles, then so be it. I had two “grand uncles”, one on each parent’s side, who served in the British army during the first World War. Both eschewed the poppy but proudly wore the lily at Easter.Their primary allegiance was to “the smaller island”.
Incidentally one of these, my father’s uncle, while home on leave from the front was beaten up by up stay-at-home Redmondites. His crime was to have heckled a recruiting rally in Newry. Spot the fascist. – Is mise,
Sir, – I have just returned from Tankkyan War Cemetery outside Yangon, Myanmar.
Alongside the graves of more than 6,000 soldiers from the first and second World Wars is a list of 27,000 names of those whose mortal remains were never discovered. Among those commemorated include Connolly, Byrnes, Keogh, Collins, Foley, Doyle, Ryan.
The Remembrance Sunday wreaths from Sri Lanka, Britain, Australia, India and others formed a large circle of memoriam in this immaculately kept cemetery, but it was the poignant notes from surviving family members that expressed just how deeply their sacrifice still resonates. That the many Irish are officially forgotten by their country is an insult to their memory.
It’s time to put this right. The form of remembrance, be it poppy, lily or other is irrelevant. The flag they fought under is of no ultimate consequence. With the benefit of hindsight, we are in no position to judge their choices for fear future generations will judge ours.
I sincerely hope that next year will show the maturing of our nation on this issue. – Yours, etc,