https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntt3wy-L8Ok
World War 1 and Ireland are in a complex place. One the one hand, 30,000 Irishmen were lost - potentially more including those in other Commonwealth armies. They signed up, hoping the war would lead to home rule - at the request of John Redmond.
On the other hand, you have 1916 in the middle, and the great national founding myth of the Easter Rising.
The heroes of 1916 were apotheised on the national pantheon. Anyone who left to join the British army were, at best, quietly forgotten about or, at worst, seen as traitors who joined the enemy.
The
War Memorial Gardens were finished in 1939 - but then World War II interrupted things before the official dedication and, after a few attempts at commemoration, they were left to decay and ruin throuigh the national adolescence and in the political climate of The Troubles. The situation wasn't helped by Ulster Unionists patently ignoring the rest of the country and turning the commemorations into a Unionists celebration above all else.
The Gardens were only opened in 1988 - and the first official commemoration was held in 2006.
Even today, The Taoiseach's wearing of the Poppy there recently raised eyebrows and generated the usual comments, from 'why bother', to 'how dare he', to 'about time'.
![[Image: Heros_Wear_Dog_Tags.png]](http://poemsofremembrance.ca/img2/Heros_Wear_Dog_Tags.png)
