Listen to the voices of the men and women who witnessed or played an active role in the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Their memories were recorded for programmes broadcast on the BBC in 1966 and 1980.
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Writer and historian Desmond Ryan recalls Pearse’s response to those who criticised his violent speeches. |
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| Socialist and Citizen Army activist Helena Moloney recalls James Connolly’s idiosyncratic approach to military preparation. |
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Volunteer survivor Paddy Buttner recalls how on St Patrick’s Day 1916 Connolly took his Citizen Army on a tour of the strategic points of the city. |
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| Irish Republican Brotherhood commander Denis McCullough recalls James Connolly’s peremptory instructions that no shot should be fired in Ulster. |
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Survivor John Flynn recalls the horror on his mother’s face as she saw him marching with the Citizen Army on the morning of the Rising. |
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| Socialist and Citizen Army activist Helena Moloney who marched with the Rebels who attacked Dublin Castle. |
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Volunteers Martin Walton and Vinny Byrne recall the hostile Dublin crowd outside Jacob’s Factory who waved Union Jacks and denounced the rebels as traitors shortly after the Rising started. |
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| Stella Archer who was working in the GPO when Pearse’s army arrived to take it over on Easter Monday. |
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Witnesses Bridget Meyrick, Ethel Douglas and Sean Nunan recall the looting in O’Connell Street. |
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| Old soldiers Fred Weaver, Orson Lucas and Horace Simpkin, part of the infantry brigade that arrived at Kingstown Harbour (now Dun Laoghaire), recall the warm welcome they received from Dubliners. |
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Eyewitness Sheila Humphreys and old soldiers Cyril Fewkes, Bertie Offiler and Albert Palmer recall how a column of troops was ambushed by two volunteers at the junction of Northumberland Road and Haddington Road. |
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| Cumann na mBan member Marie Comerford recalls what happened when the Auxilaries arrived at the door of an old man known locally as ‘Black Willie’. |
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Vinny Byrne, a member of Collins' elite assassination squad, recalls how he killed 14 British undercover officers on Sunday 23rd November 1920. |
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| Former President of Ireland Sean T O'Ceallaigh has no doubts about the necessity of the Easter Rising. |
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Michael Mac Liammoir recites an extract of W.B. Yeats' poem 'Easter 1916' in which the poet pays tribute to the men executed in the rebellion of that year. |
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