Irish Build Memorial to Choctaws Who Helped in Famine 160 years ago (Today's good news)

[appalachiablue]

42. JPN to MIS, Sat. March 21, 2015, 6:36 pm

Last edited Sat Mar 21, 2015, 11:08 PM - Edit history (1)

MIS:

"My great aunt Sarah was born in 1908 in Clifton, Galway. Her grade school years were 1914-1922. She attended a school in Clifton but catechism/religious study was forbidden. In spite of this the local priests (Irish-speaking) would travel to the school and clandestinely give the instruction. She said that a boy from the class was assigned to sit in the bell tower to watch for the British. If he saw them coming the priest disappeared and they hid the book in a secret compartment in the desk.

Toward the end of this period when she would have been in the 8th and 9th grades (1920-1922), the "Black and Tans" were active in the Galway area. They were a particularly brutal bunch known to have murdered at least one local priest. The "Black and Tans" (British Military Vets) were needed because members of the Irish Constabulary (Police) which had policed Ireland for more than a hundred years, were resigning at a rate of a hundred a week as they were increasingly viewed as collaborators.

Sarah left Ireland in 1926 at the age of 18 and came to America.
Today, March 21 is her birthday. She would be 107 years old. Sarah died in 2011 at the age of 103".

JPN
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"THE IRISH HAVE LONG MEMORIES...", #13. Hekate.

Formed in 1919, the Black and Tans were known for their brutality and attacks on civilian property and civilians. Many small towns and villages were sacked by the force beginning with Tuam in County Galway in July 1920 and then others. On Nov. 14, 1920 the Tans were suspected of abducting and murdering a Roman Catholic Priest, Father Michael Griffin, in Galway. (Wiki).

FYI (this will help you):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tans