Please translate this from the Irish

November 8, 2018 9:35 AM

Please translate this from the Irish. We believe it's my grandfather's service record from the Irish armed forces after WWII. It'd be nice to know the actual wording.

I'd plug it into Google translate, but the font makes it hard for me to understand what the special characters actually are.

posted by Cool Papa Bell to Grab Bag (3 answers total)

Best answer: I found an Irish-Gaelic keyboard here with the special characters, plugging that into Google gives back (for the middle; I can't make out the crease):

Seirḃís Náisiúnta
seirḃís onórac sna
Fórsai Cosanta i riṫ
Éigeandála Náisiú

or

National Sections
Sections of Defense in Public Protection
National Emergency
1939-1946
(signature)
Minister of Defense
posted by jquinby at 10:15 AM on November 8, 2018

Best answer: It's not from after WWII, it's his discharge from service during what was in neutral Ireland called "The Emergency."

Given to
Thomas Kelly
National Service
Honorable Service
in the Defence Forces

National Emergency
1939-1946
(signature)
Minister of Defence

The Defence Forces were voluntary; there was no conscription, so your grandfather would have been a volunteer. If you would like to learn about what his experience may have been like in Ireland during the war, I highly recommend Clair Willis, That Neutral Island.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:28 AM on November 8, 2018 [11 favorites]

Best answer: The dots over the letters are a séimhiú, which is now shown by placing the letter h after the consonant.

The text on the crease seems to be:

Deiṁniú é seo gur ṫug

The two translations given above are not entirely correct. The whole thing says:

National Service

This confirms that Thomas Kelly served honourably in the Defence Forces during the National Emergency 1939-1946.

(signature)
Minister of Defence.
posted by Grinder at 10:32 PM on November 8, 2018 [4 favorites]