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George Lennon (1900–1991) was an Irish Republican Army leader during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. In later years he became a dedicated pacifist. ==IRA career== As a young member of Na Fianna Éireann, Lennon, with companion "Barney" Dalton, was arrested for activating an explosive device along the Dungarvan quay. West Waterford O/C P.C. O'Mahony listed him, in October 1914, as a fourteen-year-old "Adjutant" in the newly formed Dungarvan Volunteers. An Irish Republican Brotherhood circle of twenty, organized by O'Mahony, included Lennon, Pax Whelan and Dan Fraher, all later prominent during the War of Independence. After the Easter Rising, he left school just prior to his sixteenth birthday. Initially imprisoned as a seventeen-year-old at Ballybricken, Waterford City, he was "on the run" for nearly a year before being captured and sentenced at Lismore Court House to Cork Male Gaol, from which he was released prematurely in May 1919 at the time of the third outbreak of Spanish Influenza. He served as West Waterford Vice O/C under O/C Pax Whelan. With Liam Lynch, on 7 September 1919, he took part in an attack on British troops at Fermoy's Wesleyan Church. In May 1920 he participated in "one of the fiercest of all barracks attacks..." directed at the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in Kilmallock, County Limerick. After this he was attached to the East Limerick Flying Column (the first organised of "men on the run") and took part in a series of attacks on Crown forces including at Bruree, Co. Limerick and Kildorrery, Co. Cork. He also served with the West Limerick Column and, at Liam Lynch's request, helped organise the famed Cork No. 2 Column portrayed in Sean Keating's iconic ''Men of the South''. In October 1920 he took command of the West Waterford Flying Column as the youngest leader of an active service unit. Operating from the Comeragh Mountains and the Drum Hills, Lennon, with Great War veteran John Riordan, planned and led the Piltown Cross ambush on 1 November 1920 (the date of the execution, in Dublin, of Kevin Barry) in which a British Army unit was overwhelmed and armaments seized. In January 1921 the flying column took part in the unsuccessful Pickardstown ambush near Tramore and the Burgery ambush in March 1921. Capturing childhood acquaintance RIC Sergeant Hickey, he had him executed as a "police spy". In all, Lennon was involved in some 17 engagements, not including gun-running activities and arms seizures. The activities of Lennon's column resulted in nearly a thousand British soldiers being deployed to Waterford, along with over two hundred RIC and Royal Marines. After the Truce of 11 July 1921, he served as County Waterford IRA Liaison Officer, seized the former Cappoquin RIC Barracks and led his men into a generally non-receptive Waterford City. In January of 1922, staying at Vaughan's Hotel with Liam Lynch of Cork and Charlie Daly of Kerry, he was present at the Mansion House when the Dail voted to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty. In the subsequent Irish Civil War, he took the anti-Treaty side and fought at the Battle of Waterford of July 1922 (See Irish Free State offensive). The first and last shots of the battle were fired from his command at Ballybricken Gaol. Retreating westward he subsequently resigned in a letter to Liam Deasy when it became obvious that the war would prove ruinous for Ireland. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Lennon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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