Pictures of the ONUC mission.

[farlee]

There are some more interesting photos on Flickr posted by DF Archives,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/militar...7629524391838/

and plenty of other Irish Defence forces related photos,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/militaryarchives/

[farlee]

Here are some more pictures relating to the Congo mission for anyone who is interested, these are press photos again,


A soldier in the crowd weeps for his comrades by ofarrl, on Flickr
Dated November 23rd 1960


Wife and son of a soldier who died at Niemba during the Congo crisis. by ofarrl, on Flickr
Dated November 9 1961

[farlee]

That second photo looks "dodgy" whats the source??

The last 2 photos are original Associated Press photos, both are stamped on the back Sep 20 1961. It looks to me like the second photo was probably touched up although it could possibly be a result of being transmitted by "wire", a pretty primitive means of sending photos compared with whats available today.

Back of photo

[sofa]

The men sitting down and the guy standing seems like two

"different levels of development or exposure"

(If that is the correct tectinical term)

[Paddy Mayne]

Paddy, could you expand on what you mean by 'dodgy'?

OK Before we get into this I'm not accusing anyone of knowingly posting a picture that may or may not be accurate but there is something bugging me about the image, particulary the figure standing on the right hand side of the image.

Now I know this is a "wired image" and far from perfect but take some time out to look at it after I point out a few things. Firstly the problem I'm having is with the standing figure on the right hand side of the photo. He's quite a big lad in comparrison to the guys against the wall, one of which he's standing directly infront of.
OK he's taller you might say but look at his his head its huge! The pockets, buckle, watch, beret & boots, they are pretty big too which makes me think the guy is actually smaller than he should be appearing here. The entire head and right arm including the fingers just dont look natural to begin with either. I understand there may be shadows of braches etc on the hand but still it just doesnt look right..

The Dark shadowing of the standing figure is particulary "dark" compared to the rest of the image and the soldiers right leg is placed in an area that seems to be half shadow & half natural light, perhaps from the sun shining over the roof of the building on the left of the image. Yet the shadowing on this leg seems uneffected by this devide, infact there is some bright lighting around the front of his right shin when its clearly in a shadowed area of the photo.

The position of the tree behind the figure doesn't seem to fit in with the envoirnment so close to the building and seems to just grow perfectly from the ground with no vegitation or disruption to the soil.

Becoming even fussier the whole photo just doesn't look natural to me, the standing soldier is paying no attention to the men against the wall and vice versa, this cameraman would of been pretty close to all parties in the photo yet nobody is paying attention to the photographer?

I couldn't even fathom as guess as to why the photo would be touched up or the merits of doing this but if I had to guess then perhaps the photographer wanted to "spice up" a photo for dramatic purposes by adding the standing figure, but then of course this is a fantastically wild guess with no basis to begin with!!

..or I could be wrong about the entire thing and be loosing my marbles!

I'd love to hear some thoughts guys??

[Border Bunny]

All the top pictures show guys wearing only the helmet's fiber glass liner; was that normal practice ??

The helmet liner was painted blue with UN markings but if needed the green steel shell of the helmet could be filled.

[Pod]

Paddy, could you expand on what you mean by 'dodgy'?

[Pod]

It would appear so - for the early stages anyway. From the sources I've read they all refer to the blue 'plastic'.

[Jungle]

All the top pictures show guys wearing only the helmet's fiber glass liner; was that normal practice ??

[Paddy Mayne]

A few more pics,

Irish Officers for the Congo, Press photo from 1960
They are from left to right, Captain Donald Sweeney, Commandant Joseph Adams, Lieutenant Colonel Mortimer Buckley (officer commanding), Commandant J. P. Laffan and Captain P. J. Liddy.


A wire photo of a group of Irish soldiers captured by Katanganese forces while serving with the United Nations in the Congo.


A wire photo of a Katanga paratrooper and four captured Irish United Nations Soldiers outside a house near Elisabethville(now Lubumbashi ), The Congo.

That second photo looks "dodgy" whats the source??

[farlee]

A few more pics,

Irish Officers for the Congo, Press photo from 1960
They are from left to right, Captain Donald Sweeney, Commandant Joseph Adams, Lieutenant Colonel Mortimer Buckley (officer commanding), Commandant J. P. Laffan and Captain P. J. Liddy.


A wire photo of a group of Irish soldiers captured by Katanganese forces while serving with the United Nations in the Congo.


A wire photo of a Katanga paratrooper and four captured Irish United Nations Soldiers outside a house near Elisabethville(now Lubumbashi ), The Congo.

[Fianóglach]

Hi

Plenty of Congo Photographs here on the Curragh History Web Site, also some information in the Congo mission in the site's chat forum.

http://www.curragh.info/New_Folder/congo.htm



This is a great picture and should have been used as a poster ad for Guinness :-)


Band of Brothers


In Contact


Marching Past the GPO



Armoured Cars of the Irish Contingent

[Captain Edmund Blackadder]

Found these a while back while browsing on ww2talk.com



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Some white mercenaries being arrested by Irish troops.



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Please feel free to add more if you have them.