Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland

There is a saying which runs, ‘Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name’. 

The saying is attributed to American writer Ernest Hemingway. 

If he is correct, Peadar Thompson’s beautiful new book Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland, will ensure the names of these women and men of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael will be spoken for generations to come.

In his insightful introduction to Lost Gaels, Mark Thompson, CEO of the victim support organisation Relatives for Justice (RFJ) which brought the book to fruition, says: “Our focus in this book is … not on who the perpetrators were or the circumstances in which Gaels died. 

Peadar Thompson, author of Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland.

“What matters for us is the unifying love - an grá - for the GAA that each person included in this book shared. 

“We wanted to celebrate the role of the GAA in their lives, and the achievements and contributions those deceased Gaels made to their clubs and counties.”

Explaining his motivation for writing Lost Gaels, Peadar Thompson said it “combined many different elements”.

Speaking to The Derry News, headded: “My own personal motivation was that I am a Gael. I am a member of Naomh Eoin CLG in Belfast. I have also spent my life around victim advocacy  - my father Mark [Thompson] is the director of RFJ and my own family is a bereaved family of the conflict.

“My professional interest was that I am a law graduate. I have a masters in International Law and my career aspirations are in human Rights, humanitarian work and victim advocacy. 

It was a mixing of all of those worlds, in terms of my own personal motivation to do this work,” said Peadar. 

According to Peadar, the opportunity arose because RFJ was seeking to do a project around the GAA and the conflict as it “supports a lot of the bereaved victims of the conflict who are also members of the GAA”.

“The question would come up time and time again, ‘How many members of the Association were lost to the conflict?’ said Peadar.

“To our suprise, no research had been done on that. No-one had a figure. So we said to ourselves, ‘Why don’t we set about doing that?’ 

“The project grew from there. Then, when we had our final figures confirming the numbers, we said ‘Okay, what should we do with this?’ and we decided to write a book of pen portraits of each of the Gaels who were lost,” said Peadar.

The whole Lost Gaels project took three years. 

Before Peadar took it on full time, another RFJ intern, Eoin Connolly, had undertaken some initial research.

Peadar said the finished Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland book had received a “great reception”.

“It has been really well received,” he added. “What means the most to me is that it has been really well received by the families involved. The families have been saying they think it is a project which was really worthwhile taking part in. 

“And then, more broadly, there seems to be huge interest in it from within GAA circles, and in the wider country, even internationally. 

“We have had a lot of interest from the US, Canada, Australia - anywhere where the GAA is, there has been a phenomenal amount of  interest, which is brilliant,” said Peadar. 

Looking forward to the Derry, city and county launches of Lost Gaels, Peadar described the GAA as a “very broad church”.

Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland launch.

He added: “There are a significant number of Gaels included in the book who were killed because they were Gaels. However, it also reflects the reality that a lot of Gaels were killed in other circumstances. Some were active members of Republican groups. There were Gaels who died on Hunger Strike. And we also have the likes of Joe Campbell who was an RUC officer. 

“The GAA is so broad and this is very much ref;lected through the stories contained in Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland.”

The Derry Gaels remembered in Lost Gaels are: John Bateson (19), St Trea’s GAC, Ballymaguigan; Jim Sheridan (20), St Trea’s GAC, Ballymaguigan; William Strathern (39), Wolfe Tones GAC, Bellaghy; Kevin Lynch (25), Kevin Lynch GAC, Dungiven; Francis Bradley (20), St Trea’s GAC, Ballymaguigan; John Davey, Erin’s Own GAC, Lavey; Sean Brown (61), Wolfe Tones GAC, Bellaghy; Fergal McCusker (28), CLG Watty Graham, Maghera; Martin Lee (18), St Trea’s GAC, Ballymaguigan; Colm McCartney (22); Malachy McIvor (43), Henry Joy McCracken GAC, Moneymore; and James Kelly (25), CLG Eiméid, Sleacht Neill; 

Lost Gaels: Remembering the Members of the GAA killed in the Conflict in Ireland is published by Merrion Press. It costs £20.49.