Gleeson Family<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nIt took eight years for Harry’s body to be exhumed<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\n
Kevin said having Harry’s name cleared was a huge achievement, but it wasn’t the final stage of his journey.<\/p>\n
“We have a good, big family; there were people we did this for, and we knew it was time to get Harry home,” he said.<\/p>\n
It took eight years and many meetings with the Republic of Ireland’s Department of Justice (DoJ) before the process of exhuming Harry’s body began. <\/p>\n
“We had little documentation, but there was a registration book at Mountjoy Prison; Harry’s death record said where he was buried\u2014the rear of an old hospital within the prison,” Kevin added.<\/p>\n
He said the DoJ was “willing to leave no stone unturned”.<\/p>\n
An area on the grounds of Mountjoy Prison was excavated in January to recover the remains of 29 prisoners executed between 1923 and 1954.<\/p>\n
A huge amount of work went in to open the area of the prison, and there was a lot of anxiety over whether anything would be found.<\/p>\n
“The real work was happening; we weren’t naive; the remains could have been someone else; it was only 1000 square metres, but you had gas, water, and electric services through the decades; we were worried,” said Kevin.<\/p>\n
By March, about nine remains had been recovered, and the Gleeson family was told Harry could be one of them.<\/p>\n
“The DNA process took some time, but we were ecstatic\u2014it was a weird, surreal time.”<\/p>\n
After the remains of Harry Gleeson were confirmed via DNA processing, the family were ready to give Harry his final journey home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n