John Crawley

speaker

1,569 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 18 Apr

John Crawley’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Apr 2026 with 1.

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Anything Goes with James English · US Marine Fighting for the IRA - John Crawley Tells His Story · 18 Apr 2026 podcast

And those words resonated with me.

And I thought Ireland should have the same chance to be a united republic.

And so I made up my mind when I was around 17 or 18 to join the IRA.

Uh, trouble was I didn't know anybody in the IRA.

It's not called the secret army for nothing.

Um, so I basically decided what I would do was I would go and join the US Marines because I was an American citizen.

Uh, I would try to get into a special forces unit, get the best training I could and come home.

And for two purposes, uh, basically to test my commitment that if I was, I knew that if I went away for four years and came back and still joined the IRA, then I was committed to doing that.

if I wasn't deflected or diverted by career opportunities or other things that could come up.

And the other reason was to enhance my own professional development.

I didn't think the IRA needed my help or anything like that.

I believe the IRA was this highly professional force, highly trained force that I kept hearing about, mostly hearing about from the British, the most professional, deadliest guerrilla army in Europe, if not the world.

And so I didn't think they needed my help.

That's not why I joined the Marines.

Just, like I said, to enhance my own professional development and to test my commitment.

And that's basically what I did.

So I spent four years in the U.S.

Marines.

I got into the Marine Recon Unit.

I became an instructor.

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