Forgotten Irish heroes who fought overseas

[beenthere]

Rules are rules

but that rule was and still is a crock of shit,

Well done Cyril McSweeney,

General Savino has to be the most decent man who ever held the rank of General, I met him a few times and he makes a point of talking to young privates and encouraging them to ask him about his service

I Agree, served under him on the border many years ago, very down to earth man.

[hedgehog]

Rules are rules

but that rule was and still is a crock of shit,

Well done Cyril McSweeney,

General Savino has to be the most decent man who ever held the rank of General, I met him a few times and he makes a point of talking to young privates and encouraging them to ask him about his service

Can you imagine screaming jim been that helpul to anyone who wears there rank markings on there arms as opposed to there shoulders

[happenin]

Corporal John Geoghegan

After 40 years, a veteran finally sees his friend and comrade honoured
By Marie Hobbins
FAMILY members of a Limerick soldier who lost his life on Christmas Eve, 44 years ago, while on peacekeeping duties in the Congo, attended a special ceremony held in his honour at Sarsfield Barracks last week.

Corporal John Geoghegan of Athea, County Limerick was accidentally shot by friendly crossfire while serving with the Irish Defence Forces in the Congo. He died in hospital four days later. At last Wednesday’s ceremony, his youngest son, Leo, was presented with his father’s medals including a special medal for 15 years of service, a Nobel Peace Prize medal, a Congo Service medal and an honorary Irish United Nations Veteran Service Medal.

The man who staunchly persisted in securing this posthumous honour for his late comrade is Cyril McSweeney of the Number Six Post of the Irish UN Veterans Association.

The two men were serving in a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo and recalling that Christmas Eve back in 1961, Mr McSweeney told the Limerick Post: "The tragedy is that John, who was second in command to me, was killed by friendly fire - shot just 10 minutes after taking over from me at the post.

"John was immensely proud to be in the 36th Battalion and be part of the peacekeeping mission serving for his country - he was my right-hand man and was one of the finest lads you could meet.”

The death of Corporal Geoghegan came just a year after the ambush by the Ballooba tribe of a unit of the Irish Army in the Congo which resulted in the deaths of 11 Irish soldiers.

"John was aged 39 and married to Peg and they had seven children back in Athea. He had served for 15 years with the army but there was a regulation in place that you had to have served 90 days overseas before you got a medal and he was shot after 30 days’ service,” said Cyril who single-handedly set about seeking a precedent that would ensure that his friend received a posthumous UN overseas honour.

"Eventually after years of trying I discovered that a soldier who had a stroke and returned home after 62 days had been awarded a medal, so here was the precedent that opened the door for me and I’m delighted that John’s family have now seen their father honoured, even after all these years” Mr McSweeney said.

On behalf of his late mother and other members of the family, Corporal Geoghegan’s son Leo accepted his late father’s medals.

He said he wished his mother was alive to witness the ceremony as "she was very proud of my father and his work”.

He paid special tribute to Cyril McSweeney for his long campaign to see his late father honoured.

His father’s medals were presented to him by General Vincent Savino, president of the Irish UN Veterans Association who apologised for the delay in awarding the medals and said that he hoped the Geoghegan family will treasure the medals and be proud of them.

www.limerickpost.ie

[morpheus]

Up until last week, my surviving grandmother only new her uncle had been lost at sea somewhere in the pacific.

After some searching on the commonwealth wargraves comission website, i found this link...

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/cas...sualty=3044834

From there I found what ship he had served aboard and what battle that ship had been lost in.




In Memory of Shipwright 2nd Class Patrick Dowling from Balbriggan.

In October 1914 a squadron of 4 ships under control of Rear Admiral Cradock, sailed to Chile in order to hunt down and destroy the German squadron under control of Graf Spee.

On Nov 1st the german ships were engaged by the british ships.

On board HMS monmouth, my great grand uncle Shipwright 2nd Class Patrick Dowling from Balbriggan was about to begin his first and last battle at sea.

Monmouth was an attempt to produce a "cheap" armoured cruiser. Even when new they were weakly armed with a 6 inch gun main battery. Many of these guns were mounted in casemates which were too low in the hull making them unusable in any but the calmest seas.

Going into battle, the British line was ordered HMS Good Hope, HMS Monmouth, HMS Glasgow and HMS Otranto.

The British turned towards the German line and at about 1930 at 11,400 yards the German armoured cruisers opened fire. The British squadron was silhouetted by the setting sun whilst the German ships were hard to see in the failing light. The third salvo from Scharnhorst hit Good Hope, causing a sheet of flame forward and knocking out her forward 9.2 inch gun. Monmouth was also hit by the third salvo from Gneisenau, setting her forward turret on fire. The German gun crews maintained a rapid and accurate fire, both leading British cruisers being hit over thirty times, whilst the reply from the British was very ineffectual. The visibility deteriorated so that the Germans has to target the fires on the British ships whilst the British had to make do with aiming at the enemy gun flashes

Cradock, aboard HMS GoodHope ordered the range closed to 5,500 yards to bring his 6 inch guns to action, Spee interpreted this as an attempt to launch a torpedo attack and increased the range. At 1950 Good Hope suffered a magazine explosion, the crippled ship then drifting out of site and sinking soon afterwards. There were no survivors.

Monmouth was also in a bad way, being on fire and listing to port. Glasgow had been hit five times and seeing that Monmouth was beyond help fled to avoid certain destruction and to warn Canopus to turn back.

The badly damaged Monmouth turned her stern towards the open sea in a desperate attempt to stay afloat and bring her starboard guns to bear, her captain gallantly ordered the Glasgow sailing nearby to make her escape rather than try to take the Monmouth in tow.

White Ensign was still flying. the newly arrived Nurberg found her and finished her off with gunfire at point blank, seventy five gun flashes being observed from Glasgow.

The Monmouth sank shortly therafter at 21:18 hours, while the Glasgow was able to get clear and re-unite with the Otranto.

There were no survivors from HMS Monmouth.

This was not only the first British naval defeat of World War I but Britain's first naval defeat since 1812 and the first defeat of a British naval squadron since the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781.

British navy lost 2 armoured cruisers and 1654 officers and men including Admiral Cradock himself to 3 german injured and light damage to 2 cruisers.

[Laoch]

Comdt O'Donnell

Comdt O'Donnell cannot have been that old. Tell us the story by the way.

I served in A Coy, 66 Inf Bn and must agree fully with his opinion on the late Comdt O'Donnell, he was a soldiers soldier and one that certainly came out badly from the 21 February 1990 incident in Haddathah. If you want more then look at the Dáil debates for that year, more specifically volume 396 - 08 March, 1990 Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Lebanon Attack.

http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/plweb-cgi/fastweb?state_id=1131913341&view=oho-view&docrank=16&numhitsfound=48&query_rule=%28%28$query1%29%3C%3DDATE%3C%3D%28$que ry2%29%29%20AND%20%28%28$query4%29%29%3ASPEAKER%20 AND%20%28%28$query5%29%29%3Aheading%20AND%20%28%28 $query6%29%29%3ACATEGORY%20AND%20%28%28$query3%29% 29%3Ahouse%20AND%20%28%28$query7%29%29%3Avolume%20 AND%20%28%28$query8%29%29%3Acolnumber%20AND%20%28% 28$query%29%29&query5=Attack&docid=259153&docdb=Debates&dbname=Debates&sorting=none&operator=and&TemplateName=predoc.tmpl&setCookie=1

[lordinajamjar]

This has to be the absolute best site on Irish Military history in the entire universe.

http://www.irishsoldiers.com/About%2...ut_mission.htm

[ex pat 007]

The San Padricos
http://www.vivasancarlos.com/patrick.html

[beenthere]

Members of the 7th Bn Association leave today for their annual Wreath laying trip to all graves of the fallen during both Wars in France Belgium that this year includes Luxembourg and the UK

[gunmoney]

Came across this today.
http://www.militarychaplaincy.ie/rol...our/index.html

My Grand father fought in Solerno-Italy- with the Irish Guards and helped liberate Rome.

[hedgehog]

What? Theses two

I think so, the last time I saw them they didnt look that healthy

[Mick O'Toole]

This link below is quite interesting for anyone who wants to trace a relative who served in the British Armed Forces. My late father was in the RAF Regiment in the 1950s and I know I'm certainly going to try to get his records for my mother:

http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/ser...=1085325031498

[Groundhog]

CO A Coy 66 Inf Bn- got into a firefigth and killed those two arsehole inbred mono eye browed thieving smelly brothers from Ayta Zut-

What? Theses two.

[Pegasus]

My granduncle - Able Seaman Cornelius O'Driscoll, SSX.16573. In 1938ish, he ran away from home after some falling out with his family. He went to England, where he joined the Royal Navy and ended up on board the Prince of Wales. A couple of days ago, I found on the Internet, the evidence that he gave in the official enquiry into the sinking of the Hood by the Bismark.

After that, he survived the sinking of the Prince of Wales by the Japanese air force near Singapore. Regrettably, I don’t know what he did for the rest of the war. But somewhere along the way, I know that he was mentioned in Dispatches. Also, after looking up the Prince Of Wales site, there is a very good chance that he may have been captured after the fall of Singapore.

Anyway, after all that he moved to New Zealand but came back to Ireland in 1988. Unfortunately, he died within a couple of days of returning.

I think its time I contacted the Royal Navy and got a copy of his records.

[Cosantor]

My Dad’s Granduncle, was Gunner, James Quirke, 112th Bty. 24th Bde. Royal Field Artillery. Service No: 101000

He was killed on 21/03/1918 – On this day The Great German Offensive began on the Western Front. Heavy German artillery hit all areas of British front occupied by Fifth Army, most of the front of Third Army, and some of the front of First Army, at 4.40am. The main weight of attack was between Arras and a few miles south of Saint-Quentin. The barrage concentrated on British artillery and machine-gun positions, headquarters, telephone exchanges, railways and other important centres of communications.

His name is listed on bay 1 of the Arras memorial

Apparently my dad asked my grandmother about him once and she told him that he was effectly forgotten by the family because he left to join the Army.
The memory haunted my Grandmother so much that when she first saw me in uniform she broke down in tears, saying she didn’t want me to go like James.