Dubliner Wins WWII VC.

The ‘Emergency’ Warriors

Ireland was officially neutral during WWII - while the rest of the world fought the Republic had the ‘Emergency’ - but more than 70,000 people, men and women, from the South of Ireland served with the British armed forces - many others   joined the Canadian, South African and American armies.

Their stories are told in a new book (October 1999), ‘Irish Men and Woman in the Second World War’, which aims to draw attention to Ireland’s contribution to WWII from both the Republic of Eire and Northern Ireland.

The author, Richard Doherty, Derry, points out that Irish official neutrality during WWII - recently increasingly criticised because the Republic failed to do anything to stop the genocide (there is a current debate (1999) within Ireland as to the meaning of our ‘traditional neutrality’) - was also marked after the war by those countries which had suffered from, and fought against, Nazism.

“After the war DeValera really was an outcast in the world community - the only countries that he could officially visit were the dictatorships of Spain and Portugal,” he says.

Churchill, speaking in 1948, noted “the grievous injury which southern Irish neutrality … inflicted upon us in the recent war.” He continued, however, “none of us can ever forget - the superb gallantry of the scores of thousands of Southern Irishmen who fought … and of the famous Victoria Crosses which eight of them gained by their outstanding valour.”

And, in fact, it was Churchill who extended the olive branch to De Valera through an official invitation to Britain.

The book also aims to correct another historical anachronism, and one put forward by some Northern Ireland politicians; i.e. ‘We fought while the South did not’. He proves that the South of Ireland provided more men, and women, to the Allied cause than did the North.

Equally, while the Irish government had introduced legislation to prevent Irish people taking part in the Spanish Civil War, no legislation was proposed during WWII to prevent individual participation.

But why did so many Irish people choose to fight, was it for the money, the excitement, or for good reason? Doherty is certain that most who joined did so because they were aware of the inherent evil in Nazism. “At the outbreak they did realise that there was that evil, but they couldn’t predict just how bad it would become, that the Nazis would attempt to wipe out the Jewish race.”

Others he had spoken to put it simply; they fought Hitler because he was a bully. “They had seen the map of Europe change in the years leading to WWII and they knew that, someday, he would have over-run Ireland.”

“It was very different from the jingoistic spirit of the 19th century - by 1939 people didn’t want war. There was no light-hearted approach - people went off quietly to do the job.”

They, Doherty notes, “made a significant contribution to the history of the world in those years.”

 ‘Irish Men and Women in the Second World War’, by Richard Doherty, is published by Four Courts Press and is priced £19.95. A second volume will also be published. He is also preparing a book on Irish VCs.

Capt. Jackman’s VC

The Victoria Cross is regarded by medal collectors and military historians as the premier gallantry award in the world, the only comparable medal is, perhaps the American Congressional Medal of Honour.

It was originally awarded only to those who had performed outstanding acts of valour in the face of the enemy - and survived. In WWII over half were awarded posthumously.

The sole Dubliner to win the award in that conflict was Capt. James Joseph Bernard Jackman, the only son of Doctor and Mrs. J. J. Jackman of ‘Alverno’, Glenageary.

A career soldier with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (originally an Irish regiment of British auxiliaries in Dutch pay in 1674) he was posted in Egypt from 1937.

By 1941 Jackman, 25, was defending Tobruk which was under siege by the Afrika Corps. After eight months,  in operation ‘Crusader’, the break-out from the city,  he led a motorised machine-gun platoon on the morning of November 21st through heavy shell-fire to attack an enemy stronghold which had just fought off a full battalion and a tank squadron.

The attack was successful and eye-witnesses recorded that he was recommended for the Victoria Cross and that his bravery excelled.

By the afternoon of November 26th Jackman’s company in support of two regiments of tanks were advancing on the El Duda Ridge. As the tanks reached the approaches to the ridge they were met with incessant and unbelievably heavy shell and anti-tank fire. So great was the rate of fire that the tanks actually slowed down and it looked as though retreat would be inevitable.

Jackman made the decision which was to bring him death - and honour.

He gave the order for his trucks to advance and the three platoons successfully deployed at the top of the ridge amidst an intense bombardment.

Again he had succeeded where the tanks had failed - but, despite appearances, it was not reckless bravery. Fellow officers recalled how during the many months under siege Capt. Jackman had carefully drilled his men for just such a move - using the mobility of trucks to advance where the heavier tanks slowed down and, by the swift unloading of the men and machine guns into their positions, he could establish a forward post against heavy artiller fire.

There was no radio communication so Jackman, in covering the area occupied by his platoons, had to move between them, his own tanks, and the German counter-offensive.

All the time he was exposed but it seemed he had a charmed life.

An eye-witness to his final moments was Fusilier R. J. Dishman - he write: “Capt. Jackman came and lay down on the gun line, and began to observe through his binoculars. He then gave us the orders to fire at a truck and a motor cyclist. “Give them a burst,” he said, and just as those words were said a mortar bomb dropped in front of our left-hand gun, wounding three and killing Capt. Jackman and Corporal Gare instantly.”

The regimental history of the Fusiliers says that there “can be no instance of a more merited award of the Victoria Cross than that to this courageous officer”.

To General Contents. .