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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.”
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Putin’s evil has no boundaries
Russia will win this war. Like it or not, there’s no way you can beat a colossus. Why is there not a single mention of peace negotiations from EU leaders? Is it absolutely necessary to wait until winter or later for the inevitable Ukraine capitulation to happen and all the destruction that will ensue between now and then?
@Ordinary lad: Peace talks with Putin?
Yeah..of course thay will work..
Putin.. “I want all of Ukraine and all the other bits that were the ussr.”
EU and West allies… “ah, sure you should have said that earlier.. Sure, no problem old pal Vlad”…
There ya go… Peace.. Ffs..
@Ordinary lad: it’s not a colossus. It’s economy is smaller than that of Italy.
It’s not the Soviet Union anymore.
If that little **** didn’t have nukes it’d be over by now.
@Ordinary lad: “Russia will win this war. Like it or not, there’s no way you can beat a colossus.”
Nonsense. Russia lost in Afghanistan. The US lost in Vietnam.
@Seán Ó Briain: The USSR lost in Afghanistan and it was the Afghan war that bankrupted the USSR and was provably the major cause for the demise and collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.
@Ordinary lad: it is easy for Europe to sacrifice Ukrainian lives to try and win an unwinnable war…
@Ordinary lad: wrong wrong and wrong. Yeah it might drag on for a few years but the West are united. Either Russia or Putin end- thats the eventual outcome here
@Ordinary lad: ignorance is hard to bend. You are extraordinary… Eejit
@Ordinary lad: three words… ‘David and Goliath’.
Hmmmm…Afghanistan comes to mind!
@Ordinary lad: wow, praising the destruction and slaughter. I thought Russia was big enough for Putler. Glory to brave Ukrainian that are losing everything due to that lil behemoth
Sure Irish grain merchants and co-ops bought 6 loads of Russian grain or 100000 tonnes of it in June and now cut the Irish farmers grain by 70 euros per tonne. Plus had the cheek to increase the processed grain they sell to the cattle, pig and sheep farmers here. Out government allowed this to happen.
@Jim Casey: how can the government control prices
@Patrick O Connell: not allowing poisonous Russian grain in ffs
Read last night that Iran are to start supplying military grade drones to Russia. This is not good. Most third party countries who didn’t vote with the west up to now have been sitting on the fence.
If the Russians stay there til winter then Ukraine will probably have its energy cut off by them….the threat of genocide is very much a tool i think Putin will use.
–Heavy human casualties, devastated infrastructure, possibly complete loss of gas to Europe. What if Russia wins, either by a complete victory or a protracted war lasting a decade?
– We can expect heavier human casualties, greater devastation of infrastructure, continuing complete loss of gas to Europe. — Population exodus? Let’s not go there.
@Keth Warsaw: good synopsis of the worst effects of Putin sending 150000 troops over a sovereign border but end your statement with an appeal to not go there, well the Ukrainians are already there are you advocating a capitulation?
The west needs to sacrifice Ukraine. Somewhat of a nest poke. Negotiations with Russia is not the point. A conflict of massive proportions is the only way to hide the death of the dollar empire and reset the global order. Why do you think that Europe has been flooded with males of fighting age since 2015? Cannon fodder and a redrawing of borders. This will be a prolonged conflict where sabre rattling will and has to lead to a tactical nuclear attack by Russia as it runs out of conventional weapons and realises how hard the logistics are of a European conflict really are.
Who persuaded Zelenskyy to drop all his election promises…..and why.
@Fergus Quinlan: lol
@Fergus Quinlan: hey Fergus which broken promise was it, was it the half percent on vat or the missed deadline for introducing energy saving light bulbs. For the life of me I can’t figure out which one annoyed Putin so much he just had to send 150000 lads over a sovereign border, could you enlighten us you seem very knowledgeable on it…
@Fergus Quinlan: i don’t think you understand the scale of this massive harrowing and slaughter.
@Fergus Quinlan: I dont think you understand the scale of destruction and suffering Putin inlficted. History has proven how Hitlers end up.
How will this struggle for influence in the area of the former USSR end? In the Book of Revelation we read: “Another came out, a fiery-colored horse, and it was granted to the one seated on it to take peace away from the earth so that they should slaughter one another, and he was given a powerful sword.” (6:4) This will be a mutual slaughter and world war not only by name. And the great power sword will be used. Jesus characterized him in this way: “A frightening things both and extraordinary (related to unusual phenomena) from sky powerful will be.” (Luke 21:11) Because of the use of these terrible weapons there will be significant tremors along the length and breadth of the regions [of strategic importance] and famines, and pestilences. Some ancient manuscripts contain the words “and frosts”. The Aramaic Peshitta: “and will be great frosts”. (Luke 21:11) We call this today “nuclear winter”. In Mark 13:8 there are also words of Jesus: “and disorders” (in the sense of confusion and chaos). The Aramaic Peshitta: “and confusion” (on the state of public order). It won’t be Armageddon. “But all these things are a beginning of birth-pains.” (Matthew 24:8, DLNT) But before that, “at the appointed time [the king of the north] will return back.” (Daniel 11:29a) Not only Ukraine, but also many other countries of the former Eastern block will return to a military alliance with Russia.
@Ryszard Ewiak: Blessed are the cheesemakers
@Ryszard Ewiak: Them prophets must have been some shockingly boring lads to listen to speaking with a level of bombast not even David Norris can manage.
@Ryszard Ewiak: what?
@C: what’s so special about them?
@Pat Barry: It’s not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturer of dairy products. ;)
@Ryszard Ewiak: Think your over-analysing the book of revelations. Those same prophecies are equally applicable to the Saipan/prawn sandwich saga.
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