Obituary: Eugene Downey

dublin | miscellaneous | news report

Thursday July 31, 2003 18:02

by Oisín Breatnach

Obituary: Eugene Downey { photo redjade }

Obituary: Eugene Downey

Eugene Downey, author of La Nina Bonita and one of the last survivors of the Irish contingent in the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War has passed away as all old soldiers must. Draped by the twin flags of the Starry Plough ( the flag of Irish labour) and the flag of the international brigades Irish section, his coffin was accompanied by his extended family, friends and comrades to Mount Jerome Cemetery in Dublin for burial yesterday,

Born in 1913, the year of the great general strike in Dublin, he was politicised at an early age and became involved in the Republican Movement and later in the forerunner of the Irish Communist Party. He had a great admiration for the politics of republican socialist Frank Ryan and was one of those who followed him to Spain to defend the Spanish Revolution, enlisting in the 15th International Brigade.He was later to write a book in the Irish language about his experiences .
On the first day of the Republican Ebro offensive in July 1938, he was wounded in the leg and because of his isolated position help arrived late. As a result, gangrene set in and his leg had to be amputated. A measure of his sense of humour, he was later to quip about this that he was one person who could say with certainty that he had one foot in the grave.

He was a lifelong atheist, activist and Irish language speaker, a wonderful free spirit who will be greatly missed by all who met and knew him. His strength, courage and fortitude will continue to give hope to many. When a relative asked him whether he believed in heaven, his wry sense of humour caused him to retort that if as an atheist he were to be to be proven wrong that he would be pleasantly surprised whereas his questioner if proven wrong would be greatly disappointed!

Viva la Quince Brigada!

- - -

other links

http://www.geocities.com/irishafa/irishvets.html

http://members.lycos.co.uk/spanishcivilwar/biblio.htm

http://www.communistpartyofireland.ie/spainn.html

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Comments (7 of 7)

This obituary of Eugene Downing has now taken it's place amongst others at the link.

by ~

Sat Sep 20, 2003 11:45

Foro por la Memoria, was set up by the Communist Party of Spain to continue the recongition and rehabilatation of those who served and fell in the Civil War against Fascism and the later Maquis resistance period against Franco.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE

by Francisco G. Garcia

Fri Sep 19, 2003 01:28

frgonzgarc at terra dot es

As a Spaniard, I wish to thank you Irish brigadists for your sacrifice, for helping us fight fascism. We shall never forget what you did for the Spanish people. You came and fought and gave your lives. You did your best, but the fascist hords had better planes and guns from Hitler. Spain suffered untold repression for 40 years. Thank you, comrade Downey, thank you comrades all.

NO PASARAN!

Irish Spanish Civil War veteran dies

by Jim Monaghan

Wed Aug 06, 2003 17:17

Obit for Eugene Downing by Manus O'Riordan
EUGENE DOWNING [1913-2003]
Irish Veteran of the Battle of the Ebro

The death has taken place after a short illness of Eugene Downing, an Irish
veteran of the Spanish Anti-Fascist War’s Fifteenth International Brigade.
Eugene, who was in his 90th year, recalled that his first childhood memory
was of the 1916 Rising in Dublin in which his uncle Greg Murphy took part,
before also fighting in Ireland’s War of Independence 1919-21. Eugene wrote
of his own childhood: “I was raised with the sound of bombs and bullets in
my ears”.

Almost twenty years later Eugene would experience those same sounds in
Spain. In March 1938 Eugene enlisted in the Fifteenth International Brigade
in order to defend the Spanish Republic against the forces of fascism.
Eugene fought in the Battle of the Ebro. He recalled how he was wounded in
the unsuccessful attempt to capture the town of Gandesa:

“The previous morning we had crossed the river, captured five thousand
prisoners and proceeded more than twenty miles. But now the enemy were
composing themselves and overcoming their surprise. Franco heard the bad
news ‘el enemigo ha pasado el Ebro’. He began to strengthen his defence
line; he had the war equipment to do just that. In any case, we kept up a
steady fire as ordered. Suddenly, a bullet went directly through my left
foot!”.

Eugene was first brought back to the town of Corbera and then re-crossed
the Ebro for hospitalisation in Mataro. The wound had, however, become
infected and he had to undergo a below-the-knee amputation. With
characteristic dry humour he wrote: “I can truthfully say that I have one
foot in the grave”.

But he had a good 65 more years to go. A notable achievement was his
publication in 1986 of the first Irish language account of the Spanish
Anti-Fascist War on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. He entitled it “La
Nina Bonita agus an Roisin Dubh” - being figurative names in poetry for the
Spanish Republic and Ireland respectively.

Eugene Downing died on July 25, 2003, exactly 65 years to the very day that
he had crossed the Ebro for that great battle. Illness prevented him
attending the commemorative re-crossing of the Ebro that was enacted by
brigadistas and their families this July 4, but he was represented at those
ceremonies by his nephew Brendan Byrne who gave him a full report on the
commemoration before he died.

It was Brendan who also presided over his uncle’s funeral service at
Dublin’s Mount Jerome Crematorium on July 30. The International Brigades
were represented by Eugene’s fellow-veteran of the Ebro, Michael O’Riordan,
while family members of brigadistas also attended. Eugene’s coffin was
appropriately draped with two flags - an International Brigade banner in the
colours of the Spanish Republic and the “Starry Plough” flag of James
Connolly’s Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Rising.

Music played on the Irish uileann pipes by Noel Pocock consisted of “Roisin
Dubh” (“My Dark Rosaleen” or “Rosita Morena” - the Gaelic poets’ figurative
name for Ireland) and two Irish laments - “The Wounded Hussar” and “Se Mo
Laoch, Mo Ghile Mear” (“He is my Hero, my Swift and Bright One”). Jimmy
Kelly sang “John O’Dreams” to Tchaikovsky’s music from “Pathetique”, while
Manus O’Riordan sang a song from the Gandesa front, “Si Me Quieres
Escribir”.

The most moving part of the funeral service was when three of Eugene’s
grandnieces - Tanya Twyford Troy, Teresa Downing and Elizabeth Byrne - gave
loving accounts from themselves and other family members of how Eugene had
influenced their lives. Brendan Byrne himself spoke of how widespread
poverty in the Dublin of the 1920s and 1930s motivated Eugene to join the
Revolutionary Workers’ Groups and the Communist Party of Ireland.

Brendan also spoke of how Eugene had been briefly imprisoned because of his
support on the picket line for Dublin’s bacon shop workers who were on
strike for union rights. And Brendan’s daughter Elizabeth told how she had
been on holiday in Spain when Eugene died. Before returning home on July 29
she had been about to enter a Madrid store to complete some shopping. But
then she saw the placards of striking workers outside that store and she
knew that Eugene would not allow her cross that picket line.

In the newspaper notices of his death his family rightly said of Eugene
Downing:
“He lived his life with great integrity, strength and fortitude”.

“Si me quieres escribir,
ya sabes mi paradero,
en el frente de Gandesa,
primera linea de fuego ”

“If you wish to write to me, you already knew my address, on the Gandesa
front, in the first line of fire”.

Salud, Eugene! Viva la Quince Brigada!

- Manus O’Riordan
Dublin
July 31, 2003

THANK U ALL!

by Bluedragon

Fri Aug 01, 2003 20:40

aim2 at wanadoo dot es

THANKS U ALL FOR YOUR HELP AGAINST FRANCO. I'M ONLY 33, I'M FROM SPAIN AND I THINK YOU'WERE A VERY IMPORTANT PART IN THE SPANISH HISTORY...NO PASARAN !!! WILL KEEP FIGHTING AGAINST THE FACIST AND THE SONS OF THE NEW FASCIST..

¡¡¡ NO PASARAN !!!

Eugene - another obituary piece

by Ciaran

Fri Aug 01, 2003 15:33

Manus O'Riordan has written an obituary article, now carried on the site, Ireland and the SCW.

Eugene will be missed by his family, friends and those with an interest in Spain.

The funeral service was very moving.

Salud

In ainneoin an díchreideamh a bhí aige...

by Seáinín

Fri Aug 01, 2003 02:26

solas na bhFlaitheas dá anam.

they went because they saw no other way.

by -

Thu Jul 31, 2003 19:24

No Pasaran!

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Obituary: Eugene Downey

Comments (7 of 7)