Ireland to pardon soldiers who joined British army to fight Nazi Germany Ireland's president, Michael D Higgins, is expected to sign the pardon into law within days. The Irish government is to formally pardon thousands of soldiers who were branded traitors and deserters for fighting for Britain against Hitler in the second world war. Thousands of Irishmen were barred from civil service jobs and ostracised in the Irish Free State after the war because they had joined the British armed forces, some of them even deserting the Irish army to sign up in the struggle to defeat Nazi Germany. The Free State had been neutral in the second world war. The Irish defence minister, Alan Shatter, is due on Tuesday to announce details of the pardon during a debate in parliament. The decree is expected to be passed and signed into law by the Irish president, Michael D Higgins, within days. The relatives of the 5,000 soldiers have been campaigning for an apology and pardon. Peter Mulvany, the co-ordinator of the Irish Soldiers Pardons Campaign, said: "It will be a recognition that the experience they went through was unfair. It was a punishment they should not have been given.