The son of a French father and an Irish mother from Limerick, Louis Marie claimed that he joined Na Fianna Éireann in 1913 and took part in the Howth gun-running in 1914. During the 1916 Rising he took part in the attack on the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park and served in the GPO and Moore Street as well as at Liberty Hall and Annesley Bridge in Fairview.
Released in the summer of 1916, he claimed that between then and 1920 he remained active with the Irish Volunteers and IRA after leaving Dublin for Liverpool and while travelling between Britain and the United States of America.
Louis Marie claimed that he was conscripted into the French Army for two years in about March 1920. He joined the National Army in March 1922, served throughout the Civil War. He was serving as Officer Commanding, Portobello (Cathal Brugha) Barracks when Erskine Childers was brought there following Childers’ capture on 10 November 1922. A statement from Louis Marie, regarding missing personal effects of Erskine Childers, is on one of the files in the Collection relating to Childers’ execution. He continued to serve with the Defence Forces until January 1929. Louis Marie re-joined the Defence Forces during the Emergency (Second World War) serving from [1940] to [1952].
