"Europe will mark VE Day with a special tribute to the Irish soldiers who fought in the US, Canadian, Australian and British forces. World leaders will today mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe - although the war raged on in the Far East for another three months. It is estimated that more than 130,000 Irish soldiers, sailors and air men fought in World War II from 1939-1945 despite Ireland's status as a neutral nation. Dublin-born Pearse 'Ed' Ryan served with an elite US army unit after his family had moved Stateside when he was just six months old. Sgt Ryan was part of a US Rangers team assigned to eliminate German cliff-top guns at Pointe du Hoc during the D-Day landings in June 1944. His mother's family were Bentons, and other relatives hailed from the Cork Street area of Dublin city, though Sgt Ryan had emigrated to the US with his parents shortly after he was born in 1924. Located between the Utah and Omaha landing zones, the German cliff-top guns had to be eliminated to avoid carnage on the crowded invasion beaches below. In 'Bloody Victory - the Irish at War's End', military historian Dan Harvey revealed Sgt Ryan and his comrades scaled the cliffs using 100-foot ladders borrowed from London Fire Brigade - and achieved their mission despite suffering 50pc casualty rates from ferocious German fire." www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-world-war-ii-heroes-to-be-honoured-75-years-on-from-end-of-war-39189933.html
Also spare a thought for the Irish labour who served the Allied cause. Who built the largest ever airfield construction project of all time - the airfields of the Eighth and Bomber command? Oh and the Mulberry harbours? The Germans used slave labour, the British recruited and paid the Irish. Twas the Irish enrolled in MacAlpines Fusiliers. Listen to the lyrics. Twas the year of 39 And the skies were full of lead Hilter was heading for Poland And paddy for Holyhead..