Irish America

Irish America

World War I

“No Man Left Behind”

By Megan Smolenyak
IA Newsletter, June 1, 2024

by Leave a Comment

"No Man Left Behind" is so much more than a slogan to me. In a sense, I contemplate Memorial Day year-round due to my work with the Army. For the past 25 years, I’ve been assisting the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) with the identification of our soldiers who gave their lives in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam but have not yet been accounted for. My role as a … [Read more...] about “No Man Left Behind”

James Cagney: From Street-fighter to Bewigged Vaudevillian to Reluctant Film Screen Legend

By Ray Cavanaugh

by 1 Comment

The life of actor James Cagney provides an interesting case study in defying expectations. Aside from finding success meteorically beyond his impoverished background, he was a battle-tested fighter who not only liked painting and poetry but did not hesitate to dance around in a skirt and wig. Upon later becoming a superstar, he seemed to shun the attention which stardom brings. … [Read more...] about James Cagney: From Street-fighter to Bewigged Vaudevillian to Reluctant Film Screen Legend

The Lusitania Gifted to Cork Museum

by Leave a Comment

The shipwreck of the RMS Lusitania has been gifted to a museum in Kinsale, County Cork, exactly 104 years after it was torpedoed by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915 during the first world war. The Lusitania, a Cunard liner, was the largest ship in the world when it was sunk by the German submarine. It went down in 18 minutes, 11 nautical miles off the Kinsale coast, killing 1,198 … [Read more...] about The Lusitania Gifted to Cork Museum

Weekly Comment:
Grandfather’s War Years

By John Fay
November 10, 2017

by 3 Comments

What's in a photograph? Writer John Fay reflects on an image of a grandfather he never knew as he's being sent to World War I. ℘℘℘ My grandfather, John Fay, was born in Finavarra, County Clare in 1896. The youngest of twelve children, he grew up on a farm that juts out into Galway Bay. Family lore has it that he had an almost idyllic childhood – trapping lobsters and playing … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment:
Grandfather’s War Years

Weekly Comment: Irish America and WWI: The Story of Peter Thompson

By Tom Deignan, Contributor
April 7, 2017

by Leave a Comment

April 6, 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the entrance of the United States into World War I. Irish Americans were mixed about intervention in Europe’s war, some supporting the dictum "England's difficulty isIreland's opportunity," but nonetheless hundred of thousands of them enlisted to fight. Among the Irish who fought in America's military was Butte, Montana’s Peter … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment: Irish America and WWI: The Story of Peter Thompson