Gogan joined the
Irish Volunteers in November 1913. During the 1916
Easter Rising, he saw action at
Cabra and at the
General Post Office (GPO). On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, he was part of a unit that were tasked to take control of three bridges into
Dublin, at the
North Circular Road, Cabra Road and Cross Guns Bridge on Phibsboro Road. after which they escaped and took shelter near Ben Eavin House in
Glasnevin. At some point in the early hours of 25 April 1916, he left along with Jack Price, PJ Corless and his brother Vincent. Early in the morning of Friday 28 April, he volunteered as a stretcher-bearer to carry the wounded
James Connolly out of the GPO, which was by then on fire. Under heavy machine-gun fire, he and two others (Sean Price and Paddy Ryan) carried Connolly to an Irish Volunteer position in a mineral water factory on Henry Place. Prior to the Rising, there is a report of Gogan working in a bomb factory at a house called 'Cluny' in
Clontarf which was used as an Irish Volunteers' munitions base. During the
Irish War of Independence, Gogan took part in arms raids, armed street patrols, dispatch work and had custody of an arms dump at his father's business premises at 184 Parnell Street, Dublin. ==Political career==