Grandfathers service award

Lockedout2

I have recently found out that my grandfather was awarded a medal for service in the war of independence / civil war but that he sent them back because Fine Gael were in power at the time and he was a cranky old man.

Did the government give out medals to anti treaty people.

I would like to investigate what he may have received these for.

Where could I start to look for information on this, would it be local or in the national archive?

tabbey

Lockedout2 wrote: »

I have recently found out that my grandfather was awarded a medal for service in the war of independence.

Where could I start to look for information on this, would it be local or in the national archive?

militaryarchives.ie

Peregrinus

Your family story may have grown a bit in the telling. That sometimes happens with family stories.

You had to apply for a certificate of military service and the associated medals and pensions; they didn't send it to you unasked. When the scheme was introduced in the 1920s it was only open to people who had not only served in the Volunteers between 1916-21 but had also served in the National Army after that, and had been discharged from the National Army. Thus it wasn't available to people who took the Anti-Treaty side in the Civil War.

Dev changed that when he came to power, and there was a second wave of applications from people who had been on the Anti-Treaty side. There were, of course, still some who would not apply, either because they took a Republican position and refused to recognise the Free State or for other reasons.

The bottom line, though, is that if your grandfather ever did receive a War of Independence medal, it was because he applied for it. If he applied for it, it's unlikely that he would have sent it back. Far more likely is that he declined, on principle, to apply for it.

But it's not likely that he declined to apply for it "because Fine Gael was in power". If he was on the Anti-Treaty side, he couldn't have applied for it during the Cumann na nGaedhal government of 1922-32, because he wouldn't have served in the National Army. His opportinity to apply must have been after 1932, when Fianna Fail came to power, but they remained in power for the next 16 years. Fine Gael (as it became) didn't enter government again until 1948. So your grandfather's decision about whether to apply or not would almost certainly have been made under a Fianna Fail government.

tabbey

Peregrinus wrote: »

Your family story may have grown a bit in the telling. That sometimes happens with family stories.

That always happens!