Sir, – Seeking a pardon for the Irish soldiers, who deserted the Irish Army and fought with the British army to save Europe from Nazi tyranny, is in itself an acknowledgment of guilt. However, each case deserved consideration.
There was a big difference between one who deserted when we were in danger of invasion and one who deserted to fight with the Allies, on whose side we were, when the war had passed us by. As Capt Peadar Cowan said, unlike the normal definition of desertion as going from a place of danger to a place of safety, these men did the opposite and left a place of safety to face real danger.
The 5,000, who were part of the 60,000 from this island, like those who served in the first World War, now find that there are attempts to reduce their motivation to simple financial gain. Bartlett and Jeffery in A Military History of Ireland, reject "the crass reductionism of this approach". David Fitzpatrick in The Two Irelandscomments that the economic approach "cannot explain why so many nevertheless took that dangerous and ultimately irrational decision", and that the "risks and horrors of war made the balance of economic costs and benefits highly unfavourable".
The sad aspect of it was that those who fought with an Irish regiment of the British army shared in the Irish military tradition. The 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade in the battle for Monte Casino had as its motto Ubique et semper fidelis' taken from the Irish Brigade in the service of France. – Yours, etc,