Many of the Free State soldiers who died in the Civil War were from Kerry, but they are scarcely recognised or commemorated according to new research by a historian who is calling for greater recognition.
The county, which saw some of the bloodiest and worst atrocities of the civil war, has held a number of high-profile events to mark atrocities by the Free State/National Army, including several at Ballyseedy, Tralee, where prisoners were blown up deliberately.
Others have taken place at Killarney Countess Bridge and at Bahaghs Cahersiveen to mark similar atrocities by the army.
Now, new research by Owen O'Shea who is a Kerry historian and author, has identified at least 31 Free State soldiers from Kerry who died during the Irish Civil War.
The list, from archival research, comprises Kerry natives who died in combat or accidents while on duty as members of the Free State Army in 1922 and 1923.
A total of 23 Kerry soldiers were killed in combat either in their native county or other parts of the country, while four soldiers died in accidents involving firearms and three were murdered by colleagues.
"Previous assessments have underestimated the number of those from Kerry who died in the service of the Free State Army," said Mr O’Shea, author of No Middle Path: The Civil War in Kerry.
"But now, thanks to new material, particularly the records held in the Military Service Pensions Collection, a clearer picture of the extent of fatalities involved can be produced.
"Many of these men joined the Free State army in Kerry after the war began in the summer of 1922. The average age of those who died, where an age can be determined, was just 21.
"The evidence shows that these were young army recruits who were often motivated more by the need to secure meaningful employment rather than any political impetus.
Most were in their early twenties when they died and their deaths caused immense suffering and hardship in their families for decades afterwards," said Mr O'Shea.
The vast majority of the Kerry men who died met their deaths at the hands of the anti-Treaty IRA in ambushes, shootings or explosions, including the three Kerry natives who were blown up at Knocknagoshel on 6 March 1923, Michael Galvin, Laurence O'Connor and Paddy 'Pats’ O’Connor.
Two brothers, Captain John O’Connor-Scarteen and Brigadier General Tom O’Connor-Scarteen were shot dead by the IRA at their home in Kenmare in September 1922.
Meanwhile female members of Kerry County Council last month banded together to call for a memorial to women who fought in both the War of Independence and the Civil War in Kerry.
The five female members of Kerry County Council have banded together to call for better recognition and a memorial to the role of women in the war of independence in the county.
The role of women had been hugely overlooked in the public space and in commemorative events and it is time for official and public recognition, they told the March meeting of the county council where a joint motion by the five for a plaque at county hall Tralee was passed.
