Death Overseas of Pte Brendan Cummins – Cyprus 11/06/1971

From PRO IUNVA At 0504 hours of Monday 31 May 1999, Pte William (Billy) Kedian (21), C Coy, 85 Inf Bn was killed by shrapnel when an 81 mm mortar round exploded in post 6-42 Brashit. Two mortar rounds had been fired from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and De Facto Forces (DFF) Compound W144….

By PRO IUNVA In Aug 1998, Pte Michael Dowling (31) was serving with B Coy, 83 Inf Bn UNIFIL, and he contracted an infectious illness. Initially it was suspected that he had diphtheria and he was treated with a wide range of antibiotics and other medicines. It appeared that his treatment was successful and he…

By Pro IUNVA On Sunday 8 Jul 1979, a small number of personnel from 2 HQ Coy UNIFIL HQ were sunbathing on rocks near Tara Camp at Naqoura when Pte Philip Grogan (19) and Pte Thomas McKinley (19) were washed off the rocks by a large wave. Irish and French personnel entered the water to…

This article tells of the death twelve years ago on this day of Andrew Grene who was a senior UN civilian staff member with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti. On 12 Jan 2010, a catastrophic earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit an area twenty five kilometres southwest of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince…

By PRO IUNVA Four Irish citizens died during the month of January while serving with the United Nations, two were members of the DF and two were civilians. We remember the killing of Seán Devereux (28) on 2 Jan 1993 while working for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Somalia.  He was…

In this article we remember Comdt Michael Pacellis O’Hanlon (39) who died in Nov 1989 while on his second UN tour of duty in Lebanon. Comdt Michael (Mick) O’Hanlon was born in Cork on 6 Jul 1950, he joined the DF as a Cadet with 47 Cdt Class in Apr 1972 and he was commissioned…