"Our Mickey": The Story of Private James O'Rourke, VC.MM (CEF), 1879-1957
2001; Athabasca University Press; Volume: 47; Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/25149118
ISSN1911-4842
Autores Tópico(s)Canadian Identity and History
ResumoMiner, soldier, LABOUR activist ? these are the words that sum up the life of Michael James O'Rourke. A simple man who never married, his life shaped by poverty and degradation, Mickey O'Rourke was involved in one of Canada's defining moments and some of its labour history: as winner ofthe Victoria Cross in World War I, as a returned soldier, and as a key participant in the 1935 Vancouver Waterfront strike. How did a miner and tunneller in his thirties, working for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) on the Rodgers Pass tunnel in BC, end up on the front line? And what happened once he returned from the war? This is the story of Michael O'Rourke, miner, soldier, labour activist. Mickey O'Rourke's origins are a mystery. Little is known of his family background despite extensive searches in Canada, Ireland, and Britain. According to his military records he was born 19 March 1879 in Limerick, Ireland to James and Catherine (Baker) O'Rourke, although his death certificate listed his date of birth earlier, 3 March 1874. Of his death there is more certainty, 6 December 1957. Orphaned at the tender age of eleven when his mother passed on, his father having died earlier, Mickey's only known family was two sisters, one in Vancouver, the other in Montreal. When, and how, Mickey came to Canada is unknown. His trail is not picked up again until he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF),
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