I didn't spend enough time with my father, who had an incredible history of courage and dedication to humanity, which I didn't begin to find out about until I met some of his comrades at his funeral, when he was suddenly killed in a road accident
Not long before he died, an accident he had at work brought about a stroke which affected his speech slightly
In order to correct it he borrowed my newly acquired tape recorded and recounted his life - as an anti-recruitment campaigner against the Black-and Tans who were being shipped from Liverpool to Ireland - volunteering to fight in Spain, where he was wounded and captured, returning to be criminalised by MI5 as a "premature anti fascist, and being forced to leav home to seek work for ten years
He recorded all this - and immediately wiped it as he thought nobody would be interested
He died before I could get him to repeat it
There is hardly a day passes now that I don't remember him with pride - and regret for not having known him better
Jim Carroll