A chara, - Jim Cusack's report on the recent and current state of morale in the Irish Army (The Irish Times, July 31st), reminded me of the unselfish and enduring loyalty of the men of the Emergency Army of 1939-1945. My recent book on this subject, entitled Step Together!, mentioned these qualities which imbued the thousands of young and not so young men who left jobs and homes to defend our oft-threatened neutrality. Indeed, the one complaint of one reviewer (an Emergency officer himself) was that I did not emphasise the hardship endured by these dedicated troops. Perhaps I played these qualities down as we were not engaged in a "fighting war", though there were many deaths and injuries during training exercises.
Where has that spirit gone? And where is there a single memorial to the many thousands, now elderly or passed on, who endured tough soldering with a smile in those dark years? - Is mise.
Donal M. MacCarron Gerrards Cross, Bucks, England.