Returning Home: Irish Ex-Service men after the second world war

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"This book investigates one of the least well known periods in Irish history - the story of the estimated 12,000 Irish veterans who returned to Ireland at the end of the Second Wor ld War. They came back to a country in which jobs were scarce, commemoration was a divisive issue and the public had little understanding of the veteran's experiences. Even worse, an estimated 5,000 deserters from the Irish army faced potentially severe punishment when they returned home. Based pn interviews wioth surviving veterans and drawing on a wide array of archival sources, [the book] explores how Irish ex-servicemen coped with the difficult task of re-integration into Irish civilian society. It details their impact on government policy, their economic difficulties, struggles with psychological problems, the vexed issue of Remembrance and the highhly topical question of the treatment of deserters from the Irish forces. Show more