The scene at Childers Road during the operation
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02 Oct 2025
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02 Oct 2025
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It's just over a quarter of a century since 97-year-old Thomas 'Tommie' Francis Ryan, a local Limerick and Chicago hero, lost his battle to cancer
PLANS are being finalised to mark the 100th anniversary of a US-based pipe band which was formed by a Limerick man who fought in the Irish Civil War.
It's just over a quarter of a century since 97-year-old Thomas 'Tommie' Francis Ryan, a local Limerick and Chicago hero, lost his battle to cancer.
His relatives and members of Shannon Rovers Pipe Band are currently remembering the native Irish man.
Joe Heinrich of the Shannon Rovers Pipe Band is piecing together Tommie's history as part of a project to mark the band's 100th anniversary “in a few years”.
Tommie was born in Castleconnell and lived an eventful life.
In addition to fighting for Irish freedom he worked a large number of jobs when he moved across the Atlantic to Chicago .
During the Irish Civil War, Tommie spent 14 months locked away in a concentration camp and became known as a local hero when he helped to dig a hole that freed 200 prisoners.
Tommie was left behind as a friend got stuck in the tunnel ahead of him and he was captured.
He was later handed a one-way ticket to the USA and arrived on May 1, 1923.
Upon arriving in Chicago, Tommie got a job as a conductor on the Chicago Surface Lines, the street railway system in the city.
In 1926, he founded the Shannon Rovers Pipe Band (originally Shannon Rovers Fife and Drum Corps)which went on to become a cultural fixture in Chicago, playing for parades, politicians and funerals.
For the first six years, their fife and drum music was heard at “every Irish gathering in the city”.
The group quickly attracted new members and became one of the most popular marching bands in Illinois and the US Mid-West. They played for democratic presidential nominee, Alfred E Smith in 1928 which was the start of a long tradition of playing for politicians and presidents of the United States including Franklin D Roosevelt, George W
Bush and Barack Obama. They also played for actress Maureen O’Hara and Pope John Paul II.
Tommie is remembered by his last surviving son Bobby Ryan, grandson Eddy Ryan, other family members and some of his former fellow band members
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Ennis Courthouse | FILE PHOTO
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