RTÉ, the Irish state broadcaster, currently has an intriguing documentary available on its online radio pages concerning Michael Keogh, Mexican War veteran and founder member of Casement's Irish Brigade, the brigade set up to fight the axis cause against the 'ould enemy. I highly recommend it (I remember when it was first transmitted in 2011 and enjoyed it tremendously).

Link to RTÉ Page "Documentary on One"

Michael ended up fighting for both sides during World War One, winning medals for courage during both stints - so you could say he had evidence that his other rather colourful claims shouldn't be lightly dismissed. One of those claims was that, during his German stint, he actually saved the life of his regiment colleague - young Corporal Adolf Hitler.



His memoirs, disgracefully stolen from him on his deathbed, turned up a few years ago for sale on the internet and were re-acquired by his family. The programme's original airing coincided with their publication.

'With Casement's Irish Brigade', is written by Michael Keogh and compiled by Kevin Keogh. It is available from Choice Publishing Ltd, Drogheda, Co. Louth.

It’s certainly an enjoyable and engaging radio documentary. Michael Keogh does, however, come across as a sort of Walter Mitty meets Forrest Gump type character. Some of his adventures are almost certainly exaggerated while his various claims of having met key players at crucial points in history also need to be treated with a heavy dose of scepticism. That said – a lot of his story does check out. And leaving aside the dubious embellishments, even if he had just been a prisoner of the Kaiser who then joined the Irish Brigade and later married a German lass, then that in itself would have been of interest as a memoir.

Keogh is also a good writer with a great turn of phrase and this undoubtedly helps in his storytelling. In fact, his themes of having been on opposing sides in conflicts seems to be his main thrust rather than the stand-out ‘I saved Hitler’ headline.
 
The following article takes a look at Keogh’s memoirs and seeks to dissect the various claims made and also asks pertinent questions challenging his chronology among other things:
 
The Irishman Who Saved Hitler

That article itself, however, is seemingly a cut and paste job. For instance at one point the writer suddenly refers to a ‘Zerhusen’ without having introduced the character first. Later the readers are told that this Zerhusen is the Irish Brigade’s German interpreter but Zerhusen’s full name is never given. An interesting read nonetheless.