This is my grandfather’s service medal. He was a member of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army. He fought in the Irish Civil War on the Republican side and was captured and imprisoned for one year. First he was incarcerated in Clonmel, Tipperary, then in Kilkenny, and then at the Hare Park Internment Camp at the Curragh in Kildare. He was only 19 when he was captured in 1922 and he was released in 1924. By the time my grandfather was released, his side of the war had lost to the new Irish Free State. Not long after his release, around 1926, he emigrated to the United States. He had suffered greatly during the war, like many Irishmen, and decided to try and create for himself a better life in New York. One of the few things he brought with him was this medal, as he was too proud of his service for his cause to ever abandon it. 

The medal serves as a reminder to my family of what hard times those who came before us had to suffer through, and puts into context the relative ease of our lives nowadays due to their sacrifices. The medal also evokes a feeling of pride as the dedication and passion of my grandfather was carried on by his son, my father, who will one day pass the medal on to me.

 

– Henry

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant