Sir, In Deasun Breathnach's interesting article on April 1st he referred to my father, Maurice FitzGerald, "arriving hurriedly from France". This is correct but it happened after the fall of France in June 1941.
My father had been on holidays here in Ireland when war was declared on September 3rd 1939, so he returned to France immediately. He was in the French army in June 1941 when the French Government declared "all towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants" open and ordered them to surrender without resistance.
As he did not want to be captured, he told one of his superior officers that he would leave the barracks so as to return to Ireland. Understandably, this was not permitted, but a blind eye was turned to his escape.
He arrived back in Ireland in July 1941, after many tribulations. He then enlisted in the Irish Army - the Regiment of Pearse, where he stayed for some years. My father, having lived most of his adult life in Ireland died last New Year's Eve. - Yours, etc.,
Killiney Hill Road,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.