Deaths Overseas

By PRO IUNVA We remember the death of Pte Gerard Hodges (33) 50 Inf Bn who died at the burns unit at Dr Steevens’ Hospital Dublin on 26 Mar 1982 from injuries suffered one month earlier in a petrol-fuelled M59 cooker explosion while he was serving with 50 Inf Bn UNIFIL. He was flown home…

From National PROOn Thursday 17 Mar 1988, Gnr Paul Cullen (20) 62 Inf Bn UNIFIL, tragically lost his life in an accident while he was on leave in Limassol, Cyprus. He was on his first tour of overseas service and he along with three comrades was in the holiday resort before they were due to…

From National PROOn 14 Mar 2008, Paul Fennelly from Lickowen, Castlehaven, Skibbereen, Co Cork died in the Intensive Care Unit at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem after a short illness. At the time he had been serving as a civilian UN staff member with the Field Service as Supply Officer at HQ UNFICYP in Nicosia….

From National PRO On 10 Mar 2019, a Boeing 737 Max jet airliner crashed shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia en route to Nairobi, the crash scene was near Bishoftu, around 50 Kms southeast of the capital.  The Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crash killed all 157 people on board, which included an…

From National PRO Cpl John (known as Johnnie) Power, A Coy  36 Inf Bn, died at the UN Hospital Elisabethville on 7 Mar 1962 from natural causes. He had been admitted to hospital on 27 Feb.  His remains were removed from the UN Hospital in Leopoldville on 20 Mar 1962 and they were flown home…

From PRO IUNVA Fifty seven years ago, the DF suffered the first of nine deaths in Cyprus when, on 22 Feb 1965, A/Coy Sgt Wallace J Macauley (39), MP Sec, HQ Coy, 41 Inf Bn UNFICYP, died at the Austrian Field Hospital in Nicosia following a heart attack. He was from Ferns Co Wexford. He…

From PRO IUNVA In the early hours of the morning of 18 Feb 1999, Pte Kevin Barrett (20), Wpns Pl, C Coy, 84 Inf Bn UNIFIL, died in his billet at position 6-42 Brashit from a single gunshot wound to the head, the round had been fired from his personal issue weapon, a Steyr AUG…

From IUNVA PRO On Valentine’s Day, 14 Feb 2000, the DF suffered the highest number of fatalities in a single incident in Lebanon when four young peacekeepers from B Coy 86 Inf Bn, were killed when their vehicle skidded, hit an embankment and turned over twice on the main coastal road at Damour, about 12…

From PRO IUNVA On Tuesday 10 Feb 1981, Acting Coy Sgt James Martin, died in Israel while was serving with UNIFIL MP Coy at Naqoura, at the time, he was a member of  3 Irish Component UNIFIL HQ.  He enlisted in the DF in 1964 and he was on his fifth tour of overseas duty. …

By PRO IUNVA On Friday 24 Feb 1989, Pte Michael Mc Neela (21), A Coy, 64 Inf Bn was shot dead when he was hit in the chest by a 12.7 mm round that was fired by a member of the De Facto Forces, the so-called South Lebanon Army. He was on checkpoint duty at…