Neil Richardson - A Coward if I Return, a Hero if I Fall
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- Book:A Coward if I Return, a Hero if I Fall
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- Publisher:The OBrien Press
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- Year:2020
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I wish the sea were not so wide
That parts me from my love;
I wish the things men do below
Were known to God above.
I wish that I were back again
In the glens of Donegal,
Theyll call me coward if I return,
But a hero if I fall.
Is it better to be a living coward,
Or thrice a hero dead?
Its better to go to sleep, my lad,
The Colour Sergeant said.
A Lament by Private Patrick MacGill
Dec 1889Nov 1963
From Glenties, County Donegal
1/18th London Regiment (London Irish Rifles)
Remarkable insightful. Sunday Independent
Neil Richardson conveys the personal experiences of the soldiers and what life was really like facing enemy lines. Irish Post
This very rich text will be read with interest by all those seeking to understand the impact of the war on Ireland and the Irish. warbooksreview.com
A wonderful book. Drogheda Independent
A poignant and sometimes harrowing collection of personal experiences from The Great War. Sligo Weekender
For Caroline my inspiration
This book is dedicated to every Irish soldier in every army past, present and future
I would like to thank my editor, Susan Houlden, for her hard work, meticulous eye for detail and her empathy with the subject.
With thanks to:
Richard Moles; Imperial War Museum; Sandra McDermott and the National Library of Ireland; Paul Johnson, Tim Padfield and the National Archives of the United Kingdom; Public Records Office of Northern Ireland; Cara Downes and the National Archives of Australia; Heidi Kuglin, Geordy Muir and the Archives New Zealand; Richard Lelivre, Daniel Potvin and Library and Archives Canada; Mr DP Cleary MBE and RHQIrish Guards; Amanda Moreno and the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum; Major (retd) JM Dunlop, Catherine McGrath and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Museum; Peter Devitt, Mary Jane Millare-Adolfo and the Royal Air Force Museum, London; Cathy Hobbs-Faulkner, James Rodgers and St Ignatius College, Riverview, Sydney, Australia; Oliver Fallon and the Connaught Rangers Association; Anglo Celt; Athlone Advertiser; Athlone Voice; Avondhu; Carlow Nationalist; Clare Champion; Connacht Telegraph; Connacht Tribune; Drogheda Independent; Family History Magazine (UK); Galway Advertiser; Irelands Own; Kerrys Eye, Kildare Nationalist, Kilkenny Advertiser, Kilkenny People, Laois Nationalist, Leinster Express, Limerick Leader, Limerick Post, Mayo Advertiser, Mayo Echo, Mayo News, Meath Chronicle, Midlands Radio 103FM, Mullingar Advertiser, Munster Express, Nenagh Guardian, Offaly Express, Roscommon Champion, Roscommon Herald, Sligo Champion, Sligo Weekender, Southern Star, The Corkman, The Examiner, The Kerryman; The Kingdom, Tuam Herald, Tullamore Tribune, Western People, Westmeath Examiner, Tadhg Carey and The Westmeath Independent, Westmeath Topic.
With thanks also to:
Tim Aherne, Michael Barry, Michael Black, Eilish Blacoe, Pdraig Broderick, Michael Brougham, Charlie Cavanagh, Angela Cleary, Bart Clifford, Tom Clonan, Pat Conlon, Geraldine Conway, Thomas Coote, James Cotter, Jerry Cregan, Matt Crowe, John Davis, Mustafa Davran, Patricia Dolan, Noreen Doolan, Joe Dowling, Peter Doyle, Michael Duffy, Jimmy Dunne, Edward Egan, Bridget Emerson, John English, Brian, Marian, and Fionnuala Fallon, John Finn, Deborah and Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick, Julie Fivey, Tony Gaffey, John Gorman, Tony Hadland, Sean Hefarty, Margaret Hendley, Tom Holian, Ger Holligan, Mairad Horkan, Gordon Hudson, Cllr Ruth Illingworth, Mike Johnson, Andy Kavanagh, Eileen Kavanagh, Simon Kelly, Mary Kennedy, Arthur Kerr, Ken Kingston, Peter Langley, Brendan Lawrence, Pat Leavey, Peggy Lovell, John MacDonagh, Michael Maksymowicz, Sean Malone, Pat McCale, Patrick McDonnell, Tom McGrane, Catherine McHugh, Mark McLoughlin, Steve McLoughlin, Eddie Molloy, Derek Molyneux, Mary Moore, Terry Moran, Assumpta Murphy, Geraldine Murphy, Kevin Myers, May Neary, Cllr Michael Newman, Stephen Nevin, Gearoid OBrien, Kevin OByrne, Martin ODwyer, Mary ONeill, William OReilly, Michael ORourke, David OSullivan, Donal OSullivan, Owen OSullivan, Kay Reilly, Michael Roach, Adrian Roache, Eugene Rooney, Peter Rooney, Margaret Royce, Billy Ryan, Sheila Ryan, Anne Sands, Alison Schwalm, Anne Shanks, Brian Spain, Morrison Stewart, Peter Toal, Cyril Wall, Peggy Whelan, Kieran White.
When this book was published in 2010, I was twenty-five years old and the centenary period of the First World War was still four years away. The conflict was then a misunderstood, mostly-forgotten aspect of Irish history. Now, a year after the centenary period has ended, Ireland has thankfully awoken from its collective amnesia of 19141918 to a great degree.
In 2013, Irelands Taoiseach Enda Kenny was widely publicised walking the Flanders battlefields where so many Irish lie buried with British Prime Minister David Cameron. In 2016, the Battle of the Somme was commemorated throughout Ireland with a series of events and ceremonies. The following year, the Battle of Messines Ridge where Irish soldiers from both unionist and nationalist backgrounds fought and died side by side was remembered. Honouring the Irish fallen of the Spring Offensive followed in 2018. Publications throughout the centenary period by authors such as Turtle Bunbury, Kevin Myers and Ronan McGreevy have greatly increased Irish awareness of the war and what it meant for our island. The varied and frequently painful experiences of veterans returning home are also more widely known. All of this can only be viewed in an extremely positive light; old wounds have been healed and shared histories remembered.
On a personal note, this book would heavily influence the subsequent nine years of my life. Because of its publication, I was invited to speak at academic seminars and commemorative events across Ireland, the United Kingdom and Belgium. I was involved with the 2014 RT documentary My Great War. Two books followed: Dark Times, Decent Men: Stories of Irishmen in WWII (2012), and According to Their Lights: Stories of Irishmen in the British Army, Easter 1916 (2015). In 2017 I completed an MA in Military History and Strategic Studies, and I am now studying for a PhD in History, focussing on the Irish at the Third Battle of Ypres 1917. I owe a debt of gratitude to A Coward If I Return, A Hero If I Fall: Stories of Irishmen in WWI, and the soldiers whose stories are contained within.
Neil Richardson
W hen I decided to write this book, I was not sure how to go about it. How do you select a few men from 200,000 in order to tell the story of Irishmen in the First World War? There were some soldiers that I picked myself, men whose stories I wanted to tell, but for the majority I decided to submit articles to national newspapers, appealing for people whose ancestors had fought to contact me. Whoever contacted me, I would do my best to research and include the story of their ancestor.
The outcome was phenomenal. Not only was I contacted by hundreds of people from Ireland, I also received calls, post and emails from Irish in the UK, Australia, and America people who had left these shores long ago but who still had the local papers sent to them, or who kept up on the latest news via the web. What I ended up gathering was a precious collection of first-hand oral accounts stories that were told by the veterans themselves and then recounted to me by their children or grandchildren. These individual histories were perfect for giving a more personal edge to the famous battles and events of the war, and they allowed me to show what individual men went through especially the ordinary private soldiers, those men who, for the most part, kept no diaries. When I cross-referenced these stories with surviving archival records, I was amazed by how accurately the veterans had imparted their experiences. These mens stories needed to be recorded and told.
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