As Patrick Maher prepared to meet his executioners he wrote a last note to his loved ones, reassuring them that his soul would soon be going to God and his body would be coming home.
Eighty years on, his last wish was honoured when his remains were yesterday brought back to the place and the people that were in his final thoughts.
He was the last of the Forgotten 10 who were executed and buried in Mountjy Prison during the War of Independence, and his descendants declined the offer of a space for him in Glasnevin cemetery where the other nine were reintered last Sunday.
Instead they took him back to the rambling green countryside of the parish of Glenbrohane in the southern corner of Co Limerick, where he spent all of his 32 years bar his wait for death.
The cortege, bearing his coffin draped in the Tricolour, travelled first to Garbally, escorted by Garda outriders and greeted by officers on traffic control duty. There had not been so many uniforms seen in the village since the Black-and-Tans came looking for vengeance.
They had come 82 years earlier to find the men who released Old IRA volunteer Seamus Hogan from custody in the daring ambush at Knocklong railway station a few miles to the north.
They found only sealed lips and burnt down the local creamery in anger. Later they picked up Patrick Maher, whose only crime, locals insist, was to have worked at Knocklong station at the time.
For the relatives of the Garbally Five, the men who were involved in the ambush, yesterday was a day of bitter-sweet memories.
As relatives of the five laid a wreath and said prayers at the memorial in the village square that bears the name of Patrick Maher and other fallen comrades, Tim Ryan, nephew of Jim Scanlon, one of the five, remembered his uncle's frustration at events.
"The Five always said Maher had no involvement but it didn't matter," Tim said. "The Black and Tans wanted someone and Maher was as handy as anyone."
The Five did not get off lightly either, recalled Breda Ryan, who also lost an uncle.
"They would get hauled out of bed at 3 in the morning for nights on end. There was constant harassment and arrests and trouble. Eventually they had to leave," she said. "We are delighted with this ceremony - for Patrick Maher and our relatives. We're very proud of them."
It was a proud day too for Maher's family, as the cortege moved on to Knocklong, travelling along country roads lined with Tricolours in his honour.
At Knocklong, several hundred braved heavy rain to hear Tom Fitzpatrick, co-chairman of the Patrick Maher Memorial Committee, describe Patrick Maher as "an ordinary man who went about his daily business and never sought nor wanted public acclaim".
Maher's 25-year-old grandniece, Geraldine Quinlan, was instrumental in making her great uncle's wishes known and having his reinterement take place at home and she was cheered as she read the 1916 Proclamation of Independence. Patrick Maher will be reintered with state honours at Ballylanders cemetery following requiem mass at Glenbrohane Church this morning.