We will remember them. Oh good – that’s OK then.

According to the historian Diarmuid Ferriter, some 130,000 Irish people fought or were part of the Allies in World War Two. Almost 5000  deserted the Irish army to fight, mainly in British uniform. Yesterday, you’ll have noticed, there was huge coverage of what happened on D-Day, with rousing tributes to all the Allied soldiers, especially those who were killed: “We will remember them” was solemly intoned on numerous occasions. And a specially warm recollection was made of the  Irishmen who deserted the Irish armed forces so they could fight with the country – Britain – that had then and still does deny Ireland – all of it – the right to govern itself.

As to having people say they’ll definitely remember me, there must be something wrong with me but I won’t give a flying fuck whether I’m remembered after my death or not. I’ll be dead . Are you crazy? – how could I care?

Take the best case scenario: “Jeez, that Collins – he was a wunnerful guy. So kind, so handsome, so brave and loving. I’ll never forget him.”  To which I say pish-tosh. And bollocks. That’s a very very heavily air-brushed version of me – but then again isn’t that what happens? People die and their minor flaws and even their glaring faults die with them. They become saints, amazing people who simply glowed with perfection. 

And that’s just ordinary people. Those who died in the First and Second World War – well, at least in the ranks of the Allied troops – they are hailed for their heroism, their courage, their commitment to freedom. The opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan gave some sense of how many of them died on D-Day.

If I had been a young man then, I would have felt no desire to join the ranks of the Allies.  I think carefully-planned slaughter of thousands of men by thousands of other men is nauseating as well as terrifying.  We’re told that the alternative would have had us all speaking German, under Nazi rule. Really? The future has a funny habit of turning out very differently from what we imagine. Today, Germany is a leading force if not the leading force in the EU. The EU controls all sorts of matters in its member states, including the Twenty-six Counties.

I hate saying it out loud, but the emphasis on the military courage of all those young men who died  may well be an effort to soften us all up for another big war. Like World War Three. Which will be fought by lots of crazy countries – US, UK, France, Israel, Russia – with a hefty store of nuclear weapons. In an all-out war, it’s difficult to imagine that none of these will use nuclear weapons. And when/if they do, we can stop worrying about the climate crisis,  Ukraine, Gaza. We can stop worrying about everything. Because we’ll all have either died horrible deaths or wish we were dead.

Isn’t it time someone yelled “Stop those goddam madmen before they kill us all!”?