He spent 9 years in London working in the British Savings bank, in stockbroking and the Civil Service, before coming home and taking part in the Easter rising
( Pete McCarthy, McCarthys bar)
he also quotes an interview with Jack Ryan, a Ninety eight year old IRA Contemporary of Collins
Talking about Captain. A. E. Percival of the black and tans who ordered Micheal Collins house burnt to the ground
Percival was hated in West Cork, He had a particular fondness for taking early morning drives through the countryside in his open topped touring car, taking pot shots at farm workers in the fields who he said " had no stake in the country"
While fleeing from British troops after an abortive arms run , Ryan was confronted in a field , man to man , by the hated Percival.
He describes the scene, " I always carried two guns , hidden with my arms folded, so i could have my fingers on the triggers, ready, So I pulled out both of them, but one of them didnt go off, The firing pin had broken, so I let him have it with my left hand gun and down he went"
Ryan escaped, but Percival , thanks to a chain-mail vest under his tunic , was simply knocked out.
The ninety eight year old ruefully concludes; "I wanted to get that bastard so badly , and its to my eternal regret that I didnt"