Evening star., 1946-06-23


|
1t. Col Timothy A.
McInerny,
Director of the Diuisio1a of
Public Information at the
Department of Justice.
u. s. Army Photo.
yards: and the other is that about
so per cent of the population of
Ulster is composed of individuals
whose racial, religious and national
istic feelings are tied to Dublin
rather than the Ulster government.
Young men in this class did not
feel as much like volunteering as
did the independent youths south
of the border.
While Col. McInerny was given
free access to and from south
ern counties in. Ireland, it was not
believed practical by the military
authorities that he should be too
obvious in his movements and, often
times, instead of boarding a train in
Belfast to proceed directly to Dub
lin, he used little-frequented and
isolated border roads to make these
crossings. One very convenient
place for crossing was in Caledon
on an estate owned by the Earl
of Caledon, the older brother of
Gen. Sir Harold Alexander, now
Governor General of Canada. Gen.
Alexander at that time was lead
ing his troops in the desert, along
with his Irish-born subordinate,
Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery.
Border Estate Was Stocked
With American Bears, Deer
This estate is one of the most
unusual in Ireland. 1t is situated in
the County of Armagh right on the
county line of Monaghan, which
lies in neutral Fire. The estate has
beautiful lawns and hillsides and
herd of Wyoming deer, brought to
Ireland by an Earl of Caledon who
was great admirer of our Wild
West century ago. In addition to
this herd of deer, which ran wild
in a heavily wooded park, was a
huge bear pit where grizzly bears,
also from the American West. were
on display.
In the stables and in the main
house of this estate American
troops were quartered. A Battalion
of the 34th Division, which was
afterward to render such stellar
service in North Africa and Italy,
was stationed there during most of
1912. On the southern border of
this estate is country road which
formed the frontier between the
two countries. On the Fire side of
the road was the estate Glaslough,
where lived Winston Churchill's
aunt, Lady John Leslie; her son,
now Sir Randolph Churchill Shane
Leslie, and his wife, now Lady
Shane Leslie, who in her girl
hood was Miss Marjorie Ide, well
known in Washington society during
the administration of President
Theodore Roosevelt.
Col. McInerny would change
into civilian attire in the great
house at Caledon and would ther
make his way across the border tc
the estate of Glaslough where, after
tea with two American hostesses. he
would continue his journey south
ward to Dublin.
At that time, in Dublin, the Ger
man Legation was still in operation
and its presence in Dublin was re-
garded, especially by journalists, as
horrible example of Ireland's
"perf1dy' in not jumping into the
war with both feet.
However, it did not bother the
British intelligence officers in neu.
trail Fire. They worked hand ir
glove with the Irish civilian anc
military police and very little tran
spired in the German Legation that
was not known quickly at the Brit
ish Intelligence Headquarters ir
Lisburn, Northern Ireland and ir
London. While the Germans were
free to come and go they were un.
der a surveillance as strict as any
prisoner could be- The Irish police
are well versed in the ways of in.
trigue and espionage, having ar
inheritance of this sort of thine
from centuries of British rule. Ii
addition the average Irish citizer
was keenly observant of any
stranger in the neighborhood. It /.
said in the small villages of ireland
that even strange cat is spied out
by keen Irish eyes as soon as hi
enters the village precincts.
Col. McInerny wore a suit of Irisl
tweed made by an Irish tailor, ane
prided himself because of his Irisl
ancestry to look quite a lot like 1
native-born Irishman, but this be-
lief was shattered on many an oc
casion because he could hardly Sc
foot in an Irish town or villag,
without being spotted as a "Yank.
He did not have to open his mouth
in conversation because word O
his presence spread ahead Of hin
/ from overseas rerordlesc ~ uyLofba