It was 50 years ago.
While you were lost in your green shirt, Guinness, Jameson and boiled dinner in recent days, you didn’t even notice. It was the 50th anniversary of the IRA bombing which removed the head of Admiral Horatio Nelson in Dublin’s fair city. It didn’t mean much to you, but it was the world to me … and Lt. Col. Denis Edward Horgan.
Many patriotic Irishmen hated the “Nelson Pillar,” commemorating an English (ptui!) naval hero, situated in their capital city. The statue was erected in 1809. It was bombed in 1966, the 50th anniversary of the famous Easter Uprising.
Although influential literary figures such as James Joyce and W.B. Yeats defended the Pillar on historical and cultural grounds, pressure for its removal intensified in the years preceding the 50th anniversary of the Rising, and its sudden demise was, on the whole, well received by the public, newspapers reported. Shortly after 1:30 on the morning of March 8, 1966, a powerful explosion destroyed the upper portion of the Pillar and brought Nelson’s statue crashing to the ground amid hundreds of tons of rubble. O’Connell Street was almost deserted at the time, although a dance in the nearby Hotel Metropole’s ballroom was about to end and bring crowds onto the street. Although it was widely believed that the action was the work of the IRA, the police were unable to identify any of those responsible. At least a few thought Horgan was involved.
Horgan was a fellow “Rossie High” graduate and Northeastern University student, so we knew each other well. He was a lousy bowler but a skilled raconteur who could tell the famed “Sophisticates” joke like no other. We both labored at the Boston Globe for the princely sum of $40 weekly and we had to save $30 a week for NU tuition. We were paupers.
Apparently, it was 50 years ago when Horgan was about to enter the army and some cushy job in Bangkok. He was going to sell his delicious VW Bug with the shamrock on the rear window. Horgan was Lithuanian or something but pretended to be Irish. At the time, I was driving my bullet-ridden, tri-tone Dodge which had no emergency brake. So the step up to the VW was a major change, indeed. I think (hey, it was 50 years ago!) he wanted $1,000 for the Kelly green vehicle. I must have been working in Boston’s Insurance trade because I came up with $500, an astronomical amount at the time.
First job: scrape off that shamrock.
Horgan was going to Ireland for a visit before he went off to Thailand and was going to use the money for his visit. I promised (right) that I would send the other $500 as soon as possible, and then forgot all about it. Through intermediaries, I got the message that Horgan was without funds and needed that dough to buy Smithwick’s in Dublin pubs. What a pest.
I scraped together the $500 and even got a cashier’s check for ease of commerce. I mailed it off to Dublin with the address:
Lt. Col. Denis Edward Horgan (street address)
IRA headquarters
Dublin, Ireland
Then, I forgot all about it. This I swear is true. Between the time that letter was mailed from Boston and the time it arrived in Dublin, the IRA decided to bomb Nelson’s Pillar. Being a dumbass, I had no idea it was the 50th anniversary of the Easter Sunday uprising. You can imagine that the Garda (Police) were upset, indeed. They were so upset that they delivered the letter personally, to Horgan’s address. They left the check with the landlady. Horgan left for London as fast as his Lithuanian legs could take him.
Needless to say, I didn’t meet Horgan when he arrived back at Logan Airport after his trip. I was told he kicked open the Aer Lingus door and demanded “Where’s Emmet?” I waited several days before I met the lieutenant colonel. He was pretty calm by then. I explained weakly that I had no idea the IRA was about to take such a dramatic act against the Admiral.
I was shocked (shocked!) to find out this week that it was the 50th anniversary of the Lord Nelson attack.
I wonder if the lieutenant colonel has forgiven me yet.
It was funny at the time.
Emmet Meara lives in Camden in blissful retirement after working as a reporter for the Bangor Daily News in Rockland for 30 years.