It was about July, 1917, that the first Lee Enfield service rifle came into the possession of the Irish Volunteers in our area. A British soldier, named Patrick O'Loghlen, came home on furlough to Ennistymon. He had been in France serving in the first Great War and the army authorities allowed men coming on leave to bring rifles and equipment with them. Three other Volunteers, Paddy Ward, Paddy Arkins and John McGann came with me to O'Loghlen’s house where we seized his rifle and ten rounds of ammunition. A second rifle was also secured in another raid, but I was not on that job. By this time, the Clouna Company had been divided and a separate company formed in Kilfenora. The two service rifles remained in the latter company which then had, as well, two Martin Henri rifles, three Winchester magazine rifles and a couple of .22 miniature rifles. It also had control of over a dozen serviceable shotguns which had been collected during Easter Week 1916. These guns were not kept together in a dump but were divided out among the volunteers for care and safe keeping. Our supply of ammunition for all types of guns were very limited. We also had a number of revolvers and pistols. Most of these had been collected from private individuals, and I cannot say now what number of them was held by the Company in Kilfenora at that stage.
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