De valera was a, strange man, and of his generation. As with Maggie Thatcher we was divisive in the support he attracted.
As many would protest at Maggie being used to define their nation, so would many Irish.
As background, my parents were Irish ad moved to the UK in around 1948. Pre-war the photos of my father show him as a corporal in a naval service, I presume the Coastguard, during the war he was commissioned in the Army and guarded one of the POW camps.
We were never that close, and we never spoke of his time before he moved to the UK.
Things that are lost in time.......