America entered World War One on April 6th, 1917, and many Irish and Irish-Americans saw it as their duty to enlist. Megan Smolenyak looks at the great state of New Jersey and profiles several of those soldiers, including her grandfather, who heard the call of duty.
He was Pop-Pop to me, and I remembered him as the gentle, older fellow who would give me a penny for gum when … [Read more...] about Jersey Boys:
Irish American Soldiers in World War I
2015
Jersey Boys:
War Numbers: Counting the Irish-born Dead in WWI
Megan Smolenyak delves into the archives and reaches the conclusion that many more Irish-born soldiers were killed in the U.S. Armed Forces in WWI than previous calculations have shown. As a New Jersey resident with Jersey City Irish roots, I am constantly on the lookout for resources that can assist with Garden State genealogy, so was delighted when I first stumbled … [Read more...] about War Numbers: Counting the Irish-born Dead in WWI
Patriot Graves: Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery
Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery, the final resting place of many famous Irish people including Daniel O’Connell, Maud Gonne, Brendan Behan, and most recently Chuck Feeney. Shannon Ní Chonchúir visits Glasnevin and talks to Aoife Kelleher about her documentary on Ireland’s largest cemetery. One Million Dubliners, directed by Aoife Kelleher, shines a light on the past and present … [Read more...] about Patriot Graves: Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery
Lovely Lough Erne
Two connected lakes on the River Erne in County Fermanagh boast over 150 islands, great fishing, and the lovely town of Enniskillen, which sits right between the upper and lower lough. There is an old saying in Fermanagh, “In summer Fermanagh has the lake lands, in winter the lake lands has Fermanagh.” This was certainly true when I visited the Upper Lough Erne region on a … [Read more...] about Lovely Lough Erne
Forty Shades of Brooklyn
With a film version of Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, coming to American theaters later this year, Tom Deignan looks at the borough that was home to so many mid-century Irish immigrants. Back in January, a new generation of Brooklyn high school students were exposed to the beautiful prose of one of Irish America’s most gifted writers, Pete Hamill. “Bridge of Dreams,” an … [Read more...] about Forty Shades of Brooklyn