Frank Burke describes the surrender of the Headquarters garrison on Saturday, 29 April. On reaching O’Connell Street he saw the full extent of the destruction of the city and recalled.
It was all one mass of ruins… We wondered what would the people think of us.
They were then taken to the Rotunda Hospital and held overnight, out in the open. Desperate to keep warm, Burke and his friends John Kilgallon and Desmond Ryan huddled together. The previous week’s events had taken their toll on Ryan who during the night woke his friends up shouting and hitting them. Luckily his comrades found this amusing.
Frank Burke was a member of ‘E’ Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers.
Frank Burke was interviewed for the programme 'Frank Burke Talks to Pádraic Ó Raghallaigh' broadcast on Radio Éireann, 1 April 1978. Photograph of Rotunda Hospital courtesy of RTÉ Archives.