ABSTRACT
Approximately 70,000 Irish men and women from neutral Ireland joined the British forces during the Second World War. Those who opted to return afterwards had access to a wide range of advantages: a bespoke unemployment insurance scheme for veterans only, free passage to resettle overseas, the considerable influence of ex-service organisations to advocate on their behalf and a dedicated cycle of commemorative activities that were largely closed to outsiders. Yet, the most common label attached to Irish veterans of the Second World War is that they were ‘forgotten’. This chapter examines how this group of Irish citizens could be so comprehensively remembered but simultaneously considered to be overlooked.
