[2] As a young man he worked in a drapery store in Dundalk, County Louth and joined the Irish Volunteers.
[1] In 1917, as Captain of the Dundalk Volunteers, Rynne was active in the South Armagh by-election protecting Sinn Féin voters from attacks by members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, who supported the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate.
[3] He was captured by the Black and Tans during the Irish War of Independence but escaped while being transported for execution.
Rynne's first cousin was Daniel Vincent Gallery, the U.S. Navy captain of aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal, who captured U-505 on 4 June 1944.
[4] Another relative was Michael Rynne, aide-de-camp to Richard Mulcahy, Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army, during the war of independence.