Irish in the British Army

[Peter Pedant]

Does anyone know of an estimate of how many Irish crossed the border from the South and joined up in British forces in WW2 ?

A young Irish colleen said virtually no-one and clearly didnt like the idea at all, whereas I thought it was an instance of history being re written in front us, and that the figure was around 100 000

Thanks - there may be a book written about this, but I cant track it....


PP

[Buenchico]

If you're looking for a relevant book, try 'Irish Volunteers in the Second World War' by Richard Doherty.

In this review of that book, the number of volunteers is quoted as 'more than a hundred thousand':
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/i s_200412/ai_n13244049

However, this brief quote from the book cites the Irish Taoiseach, John Burton, paying tribute to 'about 150,000' volunteers:
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journa l_of_military_history/v067/67.2mcgurk.html

Chris

[souldriver]

my grandparent are irish on my mothers side and they fought in WW2

[colin6789]

As well as Southern Irish being in the British Armed Services a lange number were employed on the construction airfields and other military buildings in the UK. I can remember my Father talking about the Irish working on a airfield in East Anglia were he was a plumber. The irish were bileted at a holiday camp nearby ans this was bombed by the Germans and a lot of them were killed.

[Peter Pedant]

and the Irish fough bravely.

thank you all, for your interest and speedy answers

PP

[Scylax]

Peter, you're right.

During both WW1 and WW2, thousands upon
thousands of Irishmen fought valiantly for the
allies. They showed how irrelevant were religion
and politics when faced with the 'Hun at the gate'.

After both wars the British and the Irish resumed
their ideological squabbling, but History has
recorded forever the part played by valorous men
from these little islands.

[Wozzawasp]

Am I right in thinking that there was no conscription in Northern Ireland unlike the rest of the UK?