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The Lion Never Forgets - NewYorkjoe - 01-24-2018
The summer after my first year in college, I had a part-time job walking dogs in my Manhattan neighborhood. At this one building, on York Ave., occupied by multi-millionaires (General Sarnoff, who owned NBC, had an entire floor as his apartment there), I met the superintendent. He was a big, white-haired Irishman and he told me this story:
"I was born on a British ship on the Irish Sea, between Ireland and England. Because I was born under the British flag, I was a British citizen, which angered my father, a staunch IRA supporter (When I wanted to get his goat, I would get a block or two away and yell "God save the king, then run like Helll!).
I became a captain of merchant ships and ran guns for the IRA during the fight against the British for independence. Eventually, I was caught and sent to prison on the Isle of Man. After a couple months, the armistice was signed and I was released, but I was told that I had lost my British citizenship and could never set foot on British soil again.
In 1940, my ship was docked in Liverpool, when the request was broadcast for volunteers to sail to Dunkirk and rescue the British troops trapped there (Operation Dynamo). When I volunteered to take my privately owned boat to Dunkirk, two Special Branch (Scotland Yard) detectives came to my ship and escorted me to my boat. I made six round trips and was given a certificate by the British government.
Many years later, a relative who had died in England left me a bequest and I visited the British embassy to obtain a visa. The visa official turned down my request, citing the terms of my prison release. I pleaded, "But, I have this certificate from the government for my service during the Dunkirk evacuation. Doesn't one hand wash the other?" He shook his head and said, "No, I'm afraid not." "You mean the lion never forgets, don't you?" And, at this he nodded and smiled."
NYj
The Lion Never Forgets - fpw - 01-30-2018
