On the “parade ground” at the old disused workhouse, Seamus O’ Brien and his fellow “rookies”- as they were nicknamed- had to receive basic training in foot drill, before progressing to more advanced military exercises.
An ex-British army solider, Jack Morrissey of Newmarket Lane, was assigned to train them. Jack had to contend at the outset with a degree of prejudice and resentment among some of the lads. Memories of the Black and Tan era, just 20 years in the past, coloured their attitude towards this man who stood before them in a position of authority.
But he quickly gained their trust, loyalty, and respect, and after a few weeks of training they got along famously with him…forming up, forming fours, turning left and right, about turning, marching and halting.
The only hitch for Seamus O’ Brien and his comrades was that Jack’s British army style drilling techniques were different from those being adopted by the other LSF trainers in Callan.
So they had to start again and learn the new Irish Army standard foot drill routine. Seamus’s group were assigned a new trainer, ex-Irish army man, Dick Power.
Seamus couldn’t close his eyes at night without dreaming about parade ground antics…the barking of orders… the treading of feet on the Workhouse Square…the ever-present if often undeclared fear of invasion.
He wondered where it was all leading. Would he have to defend his country? Would the Germans take over Callan and make off with all the local women, even the "auld ones", as one recruit had assured him was on the cards? Would he be shot or blown up, or imprisoned by the occupiers?
Finding that the workhouse venue was too small for training purposes, the Callan LSF switched all foot-drilling activity to the paved section of the town's Fair Green.
Seamus was delighted when his group was taken on its first official route march, as it was called, though a little disappointed at the news that he and his mates would not be getting their uniforms for another while.
He recalled: “The march covered three miles, and we loved it, we felt full of ourselves. We went via Dawson’s Cross, at Bauntha, and strutting back to the Fair Green via Mill Street. Onlookers told us we looked the part, smiling and singing Irish ballads, and they clapped when we passed. I suppose they appreciated that we were the men who would stand between them and the invaders. A few dogs went wild and barked like hell at us. It was an unfamiliar sight to the poor mutts but they’d soon get used to it.”
From that day onwards, they route marched twice weekly. They also received the benefit of rifle drill. Guns hidden away after the War of Independence or Civil War were unearthed and proudly displayed by some of the older men, whose memories of a real conflict were still strong.
Seamus and most of the other “rookies” had to make do with sweeping brushes and shovel or spade handles. In many districts around the country that contained military barracks, volunteers got to use modern rifles, like the standard Lee Enfield .303. The Callan men could only dream of such weaponry in the opening months of the Emergency.
The marching and parading took a heavy toll on shoe leather, so the lads were relieved and impressed when a consignment of army boots arrived in Callan for them. These were to be worn only while on duty, and anyone caught with them off-duty would be “severely disciplined”, officers cautioned.
Callan’s Defences
Seamus O’ Brien was among the local LSF men who helped to prepare Callan’s defences against an expected airborne invasion. Orders came from Dublin to survey all fields in the district deemed suitable as landing sites for German or British planes.
These stretches of countryside must then, the military top brass commanded, be laden with obstacles that would prevent any aircraft from touching down. Small fields were not a concern, the military men decided, as the enemy could not land their planes on these.
Hundreds of volunteers took to the countryside around Callan. Youngsters pitched in too, happy to be part of the excitement and apparent preparation for war. Scut-trucks full of tar barrels containing heavy weights were driven to the supposedly endangered fields, which included a 40-acre venue at Minauns, the Fair Green in Callan, and the golf club stretch at Geraldine.
The LSF men unloaded the barrels and positioned them around the fields. To make doubly sure that the enemy pilots would have second thoughts about landing, the local lads also erected sharpened wooden stakes at these venues and spread large hunks of timber and tree trunks across the would-be “runways”.
As Seamus dragged a weighty tree trunk across the newly clipped golf course, sweat oozing from him, an older recruit clapped him on the back, remarking cheerfully: “Ah the boy Sheamy. There’ll no planes landing in Callan, not with all the stuff we’re using to block their handy little airfields. Sure Jaysus no plane would survive a collision with a tar barrel, at least not without the pilot getting a king-sized splinter up his arse. And if they do land their auld planes, be gob we’ll be ready for them!”
Baffled as to what the LSF could do to stop an airborne invasion force if it did manage to reach the district, Seamus queried the man’s ebullience. The older volunteer sat on the tree trunk that Seamus had finished positioning close to a ditch and proceeded to explained the strategy…
To be continued…
