Dad's walking stick

"My father, Patrick (Paddy) O'Donnell, became involved with Fianna Eireann - a sort of junior branch of the IRA - in 1919. He and some friends – all of them around 16 years old had been caught by a squad of Black-and-Tans. They were doing arms training in a clearing in the woods above Rosbrien, outside Limerick. Although they had only hurleys for rifles, they were arrested and court-martialled for illegal drilling. The leader was sentenced to ten years, and the rest, including my dad were sentenced to three years. Some time was spent on Spike Island, a prison camp in the harbour outside Cobh – or Queenstown as it was known at the time. It was while there that he crafted this walking stick. He was very reluctant to talk about those times under what was apparently a brutal regime. The group to which he belonged was disruptive, wrecking their cells and went on three days hunger strike. They were transferred to Kilkenny jail, and later sent to Waterford Jail where he spent three months in a sanatorium suffering from what would develop into Tuberculosis. He was eventually released in 1922 when the Treaty was ratified. The walking stick was made from a piece of White thorn tree, and the name on the handle, bearing his initials 'POD', was fashioned from a beaten out spoon. The attached photos show the stick, the inscription of his initials, and a later portrait of him."