COUNTY VIEW: When citizen volunteers rallied to the cause

Rarely, if ever, has there been such a national rallying to the cause as that which marked the formation of the country’s Local Defence Corps.
As the war clouds gathered over Europe in 1940, the government decided that our national protection required a volunteer citizen force to guard against hostile invasion. (In keeping with our spirit of neutrality, the ensuing five years of warfare in Europe would be termed ‘The Emergency’ in Ireland.)
The announcement, in May 1940, of the setting up of the Local Security Force evoked a huge response. The men of Ireland flocked to the new volunteer organisation, which would be under the direction of the Garda Síochána, and would, in effect, be the eyes and ears of the Garda force. Its main remit was the provision to the Gardaí of any information concerning aliens or strangers visiting a locality and of suspicious happenings in an area, including coastal observation and the monitoring of boats and craft entering or leaving ports. It would also provide assistance in aerial observation schemes.
In late 1940, it was decided to divide the LSF into two support groups. Group A, comprising 84,000 men, would come under Irish Army control. This group, consisting of younger and fitter volunteers, would now become an army reserve, to be known as the LDF, the Local Defence Force (subsequently reconstituted as the FCA). Group B, consisting of 52,000 men, would remain under Garda control. This group, comprising older men, would be unarmed and act as a Garda Reserve. This group would also retain the original name of the LSF.
Vincent Keane, in the 2008 issue of Cathair na Mart, gives an interesting and detailed account of the Westport LSF company, which comprised some 75 men in total. Although very little would happen of a suspicious or exciting nature in the Westport area during The Emergency (much to the disappointment of many who had initially signed up on the expectation of drama and sensation), the author points to one particularly telling effect of the LSF formation. “Many of those who enlisted had taken opposing sides in the Civil War, but were now united in common defence of their country,” he noted.
The LSF was but one branch of voluntary service to emanate from the national call to arms in 1940. In Westport, the first organisation to be set up was the Irish Red Cross. The town’s Fire Brigade was expanded to treble its membership, and a section of the Naval Reserve was also formed. In Ballina, a Ladies Committee was formed (a sharp departure from the all-male recruitment of the LSF) to concentrate on first aid and emergency medical response.
The LSF volunteers took their duties seriously, they were well trained and smartly uniformed. Nightly patrols were undertaken on foot or bicycle, petrol being in short supply, and fortnightly training was insisted upon. Extolling their sense of duty, the Chief Garda officer in Claremorris remarked: “The men of the LSF, forgetting the warmth of their homes and hearths, went forth to spend many a long and dreary night on patrol on lonely roads, with the only audible sounds those of the slashing rains in the nearby trees.”
As the war dragged on, however, enthusiasm began to wane. Attendance at training and meetings became patchy and night patrols became less frequent. The dip in morale led to a stern lecture to members at a meeting in Castlebar from the District Adjutant, JP Ryan. The deadwood, he said, must be rooted out and only the good wood retained. Discipline needed to be restored; excuses such as loss of sleep would no longer be acceptable for not going on patrol; insubordination to officers would not be tolerated.
A year later, The Emergency was over. The LSF was officially disbanded, and the force was stood down for good. In every town and village, functions were held to mark the end of an era, with many wistfully reflecting on the bonds of friendship and loyalty that had been forged in the shadow of danger.
But perhaps one of the most enduring benefits of the LSF years was captured in the words of Garda Superintendent O’Reilly at a function to mark the disbandment of the Ballinrobe LSF unit: “In this country, for many years, there was a feeling that the Gardaí could not have the confidence of the people as required in a well-ordered community. The LSF has done a great deal to dispel that feeling.”