IRL-MAYO-KILKELLY-L Archives

From: Nancy Mazzeo Reeb <>
Subject: George Harrison of Shammer R.I.P.
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 00:47:58 -0400

Western People - New York Note Book - June 10, 2004
I am delighted to include a piece from George Harrison, a native of
Kilkelly and a fine Irishman, who recently celebrated his 89th birthday:
I was born 89 years ago in Shammer, Kilkelly. The land was poor so the
people worked hard to put food on the table. The homes at the turn of
the century were all built from fieldstones and had thatched roofs. Here
and there you would find slate roofs.
My memories of Shammer are that it was a village of about sixty houses.
My mother and father were returned Yanks. My mother ran a small country
store while my father hewed stone, a trade he learned in Concord, New
Hampshire, where they met and married in 1895. They now take their
eternal rest there with members of their family under a Celtic cross in
Calvary Cemetery, erected by this writer in 1969. Due to the fact that
my mother ran a small store, our house became a meeting place where the
villagers met at night, smoked their pipes and exchanged opinions and
sometimes played cards. I recall quite well the big issue discussed was
the fight for Irish independence. The local Cumann of Sinn Fein was
named after Thomas Ashe, one of the ablest commanders of the 1916 Rising
and author of the well-known poem, ‘Let Me Carry Your Cross For Ireland,
Lord’. This was written just a few weeks before his death from forced
feeding in September 1917.
The local Cumann of Sinn Féin had a beautiful banner woven in tribute to
his memory. The banner was woven by the nuns of Banada in Co. Sligo. I
believe it cost £30, a nice figure for 1918. It was used at republican
rallies for decades and eventually became worn and almost threadbare. It
has now been re-woven. The banner is stored in the local library in
Kilkelly, for use of the present generation. Thomas Ashe and his
comrades have been a big influence in my life. Many years after his
martyrdom I became friendly with one of his fellow hunger strikers, the
late Paddy McLogan, who was assassinated in 1964. We did not know how
our forebears would deal with the events and issues of to-day. However,
we are fully aware that they sacrificed their lives for a free and
independent Irish Republic, with the people of Ireland in control of
their own destiny. (note: Uncle to Win Ryan <>)

Western People Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Mayo-born gun runner dies in USA
By: Marian Harrison
The most important gun runner in the history of the IRA has died in New
York. George Harrison, formerly of Shammer, Kilkelly, passed away on
Wednesday last en route to hospital after falling ill at his home in
Prospect Park in New York. Mr. Harrison was active in the Republican
movement from an early age, becoming a member of the Irish Republican
Army in 1930, when he was only 15-years-old. He left for America in 1938
and was a Republican activist right up until his death last week. A
friend of Mr. Harrison’s, Jimmy Duffy, of Kilkelly, told the Western
People that George Harrison was an unrepentant Republican, who had no
regrets over his gun running activities. Mr. Harrison began to supply
arms to the IRA in the early 50’s. When the Troubles in Northern Ireland
started in the late 1960’s, Harrison became the main gun-runner in the
US. He and a small group supplied Armaite rifles and other weaponry to
the Provos. George Harrison admitted to sending over 3,000 weapons
during his gun-running career and it is believed that over one million
rounds of ammunition also came to Ireland via the ‘Harrison network’.
In 1981 the ‘Harrison network’ came to an end when an FBI sting
operation enlisted the help of an underworld arms dealer, George De Meo,
who had been supplying arms to Harrison. However, Harrison and four
other were acquitted in 1982 with George Harrison arguing that he
thought the operation had CIA approval. It was a novel defense and it
won the Kilkelly man a cult following in republican circles.
In July 2004, with the banning of Sinn Féin Poblachtach in the US,
Harrison again vowed to defy the authorities in refusing to desist from
raising funds for the Republican Movement in the United States, stating:
“Every month I buy a large amount of copies of Saoirse and then
distribute them around New York. I’m going to ask the party to send more
papers and get more money over to them. If the Bush administration wants
to jail me, I’m ready.” Jimmy Duffy said he spoke to Mr. Harrison last
week and noted his good humour. “He read out a comical poem to me before
asking for his neighbours and relations around Kilkelly. He was in great
form but he always was. He was a great character, never down,” said Mr.
Duffy. George Harrison never returned to Ireland since he left his home
beside Shammer Lake in 1938. He will be cremated in New York. There is
expected to be a large republican presence at his funeral.

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• George Harrison of Shammer R.I.P. by Nancy Mazzeo Reeb <>