An American who claimed to be a relative of Patrick Pearse was hatching a plan to bring an army of Vietnam veterans to Ireland to train the IRA in 1971, according to documents released by the National Archives.
An Irish diplomatic official in the US wrote to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin explaining how James McKelvey from Maryland telephoned "offering help in connection with the situation in the North of Ireland".
He was encouraged to write to his senator. "He phoned again on 21 stSeptember saying that he had 107 Vietnam veterans ready to go to Ireland and that if the Irish Government did not want them he would offer them to the IRA," the official wrote.
"He was told that the Government were interested in a peaceful solution and had no use for violent methods."
The official said this may be the same person who rang the WWDC radio station in Maryland a day later with a similar story. The station got in touch with Irish embassy officials to say that an unnamed individual called saying 175 Vietnam veterans were prepared to travel to Ireland. They would travel as tourists but their plan was to "help and advise" the IRA. They would "regroup in Co Donegal and infiltrate across the border to train the IRA whom they considered to be "no good". They looked upon themselves as volunteers, not as mercenaries", the official explained.
Ross Simpson from the radio station asked the Irish diplomats for details of an IRA body in Washington and for confirmation that there was an IRA recruiting office in Chicago. "I told him I had no information on this," the official said. The radio station worker also asked for the telephone number of the Taoiseach, Jack Lynch and said the station was going to do a story about the plan that day. "Radio station WWDC … specialises in pop music," the Irish official helpfully added.
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