Deaths Overseas

Lt Col Thomas (Tom) Stapleton (Retd) died from natural causes while he was serving as a civilian UN staff member with the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) on 27 May 2004. He was undergoing medical treatment in Ireland when he died surrounded by his family, his wife Margaret, children Noni, Peter…

by PRO IUNVAOn 28 Apr 1995, Gda Sgt Paul Michael Reid (39) started a one year tour of duty with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Thursday night, 18 May, he and a colleague, Gda Philip Carr, were travelling in a UN jeep from Sarajevo Airport to their base…

By PRO IUNVAOn 9 May 1962, Capt Ronald McCann died from injuries suffered in a road traffic accident while he was serving with Opération des Nations Unies au Congo (ONUC) in the Congo. He was the twenty fourth of twenty eight members of the DF to die during Ireland’s first armed UN mission. Capt Ronald…

From PRO IUNVAIn Apr 1981, 48 Inf Bn was directed by UNIFIL HQ to establish a new Observation Post 6-22D west of Dyar Ntar village in South Lebanon, 6-22D was opened on 10 Apr. The OP was about 1.5 Km from Post 6-22 by road and from there it was accessible only on foot by…

By PRO IUNVA This article tells the story of how two Irish peacekeepers, Pte Thomas Barrett and Pte Patrick Derek Smallhorne were murdered in south Lebanon forty two years ago. It was forty years before the killer was brought to justice and this took a protracted campaign by military veterans and the two families. The…

By PRO IUNVA Pte Stephen Griffin (21) was fatally wounded on 7 Apr 1980 in At Tiri, South Lebanon when he was shot in the head by the De Facto Forces (DFF) who were under the control of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). He was evacuated to Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel where he died…

From PRO IUNVA Twenty years ago on 15 Apr 2002, SS Peadar MacDara Ó Flatharta (21), 8 Irish Component with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) was accidentally shot. He had been on a three-day patrol in the Fataluro area approximately 3 Km from the Irish base near Taroman village. The twelve…

From PRO IUNVA Sgt John Hamill, Armd Car Gp, 4 Inf Gp UNFICYP lost his life in a road traffic accident at approximately 0750 hours on 7 Apr 1965, he was the second DF casualty in Cyprus. He had been travelling in a convoy consisting of four Panhard AML 60 armoured cars and an ammunition…

From National PRO On St Patrick’s Day 1963, Cpl John McGrath (47), who was a Medical Orderly with A Coy 38 Inf Bn ONUC, was travelling in the back of a truck from an inter-Coy football match in Kolwezi in Katanga Province to Camp Ruwe. The Coy pennant was fixed behind the cab and the…

From PRO IUNVAThe Killings of Cpl Fintan Heneghan, Pte Mannix Armstrong and Pte Thomas Walsh in March 1989 Thirty three years ago, at approximately 0933 hours on 21 Mar 1989, a landmine explosion killed Cpl Fintan Heneghan, Pte Mannix Armstrong and Pte Thomas Walsh all from C Coy 64 Inf Bn, United Nations Interim Force…