around the Irish language movement and the IRA; these works focused on the independence struggle of Ireland. He wrote about these topics in newspapers such as the Standard and The Kerryman; his most notable work in newspapers during his later life included his contribution to the Irish Independent, which published a section called ‘A Veteran Remembers’ five days a week from 16 May to June 1957, as well as a weekly section called ‘Moods and Memories’ on Wednesdays from 24 May 1961 to 16 June 1965. One of the awards Béaslaí gained during his career was on 14 August 1928, Béaslaí a gold medal at the Tailteann Literary Awards. While in Dublin, he joined the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League, and after he moved to Ireland he began using the Irish form of his name, Piaras Béaslaí, rather than Percy Beazley. Role in the 1916 Rising A founding member of The Irish Volunteers in 1913. In January 1916 he served as a courier for political activist and revolutionary leader Seán Mac Diarmada. By the time of the Easter Rising that year, Béaslaí was deputy commanding officer of the 1st Dublin Battalion. In an audio recording to which he contributed in 1958, he detailed his experience in the Rising, describing the rebels assembling before noon in Blackhall Street at battalion headquarters. After midday they marched out to the Four Courts, erecting barricades as they did so. The Four Courts was his main station. In the audio, he recalls a green flag with a gold harp in the centre; this was the non-Sinn Féin flag at the time. On the Friday evening the General Post Office, Dublin. Béaslaí was in direct charge of the Four Courts area, and at one point during the fight he ordered a complete blackout. He recalled "things were going badly for the English soldiers" and described the whole event as "a weird experience". He remembers the streets being lit up with fires in the darkness as if it were bright as day. He speaks of the intensity of the firing line and then how it suddenly ceased on the Friday. He remembered falling asleep and when he woke being presented with PH Pearse's order to surrender. The rebels were brought to Richmond barracks. Béaslaí then spent fifteen months in English prisons. Béaslaí served three years for penal servitude divided between a stringent Portland prison and a