If you were born in Ireland in 1940?

Question

Would you have memories or seen affects of WW2 (County Kerry) and would you have been drafted into the military?

Trying to piece together some history of my deceased grandfather, and everyone in the family has a different story. He moved to the US in 1960 and died in 1999. I don't seem to have any information about his life before he moved. Any suggestions? I'm trying to put together a "family history" for my family and want to include what Ireland might have been like in the 1940s and 1950s.

Answer 1

Ireland was neutral in World War II. No battles took place there. There was no military draft.
I don't usually encourage using Wikipedia as a source, but this article on Ireland is fairly good, and should at least give you an idea of what was going on. It's only a place to start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency

Answer 2

During the Second World War, Ireland remained neutral, which was the policy the government followed at the overwhelming wish of the Irish citzens.

However, at least 200,000 Irish men and women served in the Allied Forces against the Axis Powers.

Robert Mullally states above that "The Irish actually fought on both sides of the war with many battalions in the english army and also some in the german army reasons being "sure if there against the english we are with them" a popular thought process among irish people and the time and even some irish people now.

This is entirely incorrect! Very few, if any, Irish men or women served with the Axis powers; the only Irish people who did work with the Nazis were the I.R.A., who wished to use the Nazis to overthrow the Free State Government and unite Ireland under republican rule. That they would themselves be puppets of the Nazis was something they had not thought about.

His statement concerning Irish Battalions fighting for the U.K. is also misleading; there were Irish regiments with Irish names, but they were all based in the U.K., and thus British. Ireland did not send any battalions to fight in WWII, let alone under British leadership. We did, however, give the Allied forces a great deal of aid in ways that are still not widely acknowledged (particularly crucial was the aid given in the run-up to D-Day, which led to it being staged on the 6th June 1944 rather than the 5th June).

The Irish government at the time was not only worried by the prospect of an invasion by the Nazis, but also by the U.K. and the U.S.A., both of whom were stationed in Northern Ireland and who never robustly dismissed the idea of invading the Irish Free State to suborn its ports for Allied use. This was an idea much in vouge with both F.D.R. and Churchill, and remained an implict threat as late as Spring 1944. It must be remembered that a scant twenty years had passed since the Irish had forced the British out; the British still had an Empire, and would not have being in the least adverse to regaining lost ground.

Despite this - or indeed perhaps because of it! - the Irish firmly endorsed the principles of democracy in opposition to the sordid ideals of Nazi Germany. It must also be remembered that the Irish Free State was the only country in Europe to succesfully beat a Facist coup d'etat in the 1930's.

As in the past, Ireland's unenviable postition was that of a small nation caught in the drama of larger powers, none of whom had the interests of the Irish at heart. Thus we had to look after ourselves because - as our history had shown - no one else would.

Answer 3

Don't know much firsthand info, but you can try reading Morgan Llewelyn's Irish Century Series. 1916, 1921, 1949 (A novel of the Irish Free State), 1972 (A novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution). She's excellent with re-creating history - thorough research, great writing. Good luck!