"Fantastic Rumours Were Mixed With The Facts"

“It Would Have Blown My Head Off”

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As a British army patrol searched a house on Serpentine Avenue in Ballsbridge Ernest Gill was on guard outside when fired at by a sniper.

A shot was fired at me… it whizzed by and caught the tip of my nose.

Ernest Gill recalls how he saw the man who had shot at him and gave chase but the rebel got away.

I could see him in the distance running across the field I had two shots at him but he was too far off.

On returning to his post Ernest Gill’s commanding officer retrieved the bullet that had nearly killed him.

He dug the bullet out of the cement wall. It was a dumdum. Another fraction of an inch it would have blown my head off.

Ernest Gill was a member of the British Army sent to Dublin during the Easter Rising.

Ernest Gill was interviewed for the television series 'Ireland A Television History', 26 June 1979.

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