Galway Grave for Lord Haw Haw
Connacht Tribune, Friday, August 20, 1976.
Introduction
The remains of Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) will finally be laid to rest in Galway this afternoon, thirty years after he was hanged in London for treason. The reburial ends a ten—year campaign by Joyce's daughter, Mrs. Heather Iandolo, to have her father's remains brought to the city where he spent a large part of his childhood.
Galway Corporation yesterday confirmed that the reburial would take place at the New Cemetery in Bohermore at 2.30p.m. The complete funeral arrangements are being handled by an English firm of undertakers.
While it could not be confirmed yesterday what the traveling arrangements for the funeral party were, it seemed likely that the remains would be transported on the overnight car ferry from Holyhead, arriving in Dun Laoghaire at 6 a.m. The cortege was expected to set out by road for Galway this morning.
Mrs. Iandolo, a schoolteacher from Gillingham in Kent, has been campaigning since 1966 to have her father's remains removed to Galway. In that year she wrote to the then Mayor of Galway, Councillor Brendan Holland, enquiring about the possibility of going ahead with the reburial.
Councillor Holland thought the plan was acceptable and Mrs. Iandolo was given permission by the British Home Office in 1973 to have her father's remains exhumed from Wandsworth Prison in London. The Irish Government gave their consent in 1975.
Mrs. Iandolo then sought permission from Galway Corporation early this year and councillors readily acceded to her request.
A firm of undertakers in Middlesex began making arrangements for the transfer of the remains and through a local firm they arranged for the grave to be opened and a headstone to be erected.
The headstone, a white marble cross, will bear the inscription: "I am the resurrection and the life" — Dona eis Requiem — William Joyce, 23 April, 1906 — 3 January, 1946.
Family Background
Joyce was born in America in 1906. His father was Irish and his mother came from Yorkshire. The family came to Galway about 1920 and some time later the family moved to Britain. In 1924 a picture of Joyce was published in the Daily Sketch showing him with a razor slash on his check following a fracas involving Oswald Moseley's fascist marchers.
Joyce married in a London registry office at the age of 21 and later divorced his wife to marry Lancashire—born Margaret Carins White, whom he had met at a political rally.
They went to Germany and in September 1939 Joyce began his career on Radio Hamburg which was to earn him the nickname "Lord Haw Haw".
Joyce adopted a terribly British accent broadcasting Nazi propaganda and his chilling "Germany Calling, Germany Calling," introduction struck fear into homes all over Britain throughout the war.
Ironically, it was his distinctive voice which led to his capture after the war — Hilter's infamous propaganda minister Josef Goebbels made special arrangements for Joyce's escape, but Joyce got chatting to British officers in Denmark and his voice was recognized.
Brought back to Britain, he was placed on trial for treason (under the same 14th Century act which Roger Casement was tried) and sentenced to hang. He was hanged at Wandsworth Prison on January 3, 1946.