Post 6 Newsletter Vol 3, Issue 11 Dec 2022

By PRO IUNVA This article recalls the service of the first DF chaplain who deployed on overseas service with the United Nations in Jul 1960. Fr Cyril Patrick Crean was known as Fr Paddy and he was ordained in Rome in 1933. He worked in Harold’s Cross in Dublin before he joined the British Army…

From PRO IUNVA Mass Murder of UN Peacekeepers in the Congo in April 1961. Sixty one years ago, in Apr 1961, the UN suffered heavy casualties in a murderous rampage by members of the Armed Forces of the Central Congolese Government. On 28 April 1961, ONUC suffered its highest number of fatalities in single event…

The is the second article to cover the deaths of 36 Inf Bn personnel in Elisabethville in Dec 1961. The first article on the deaths of Irishmen during Operation Unokat mentioned the wounding of Sgt Patrick Mulcahy and four men from A Coy 36 Inf Bn by shrapnel from mortar fire that killed Cpl Michael…

By PRO IUNVA Cavalry Corps Remembrance Day Traditionally the Cavalry Corps Remembrance Day has been held in the Curragh Camp on the first Saturday in September. This year it is being held on Wednesday 14 September to mark the centenary of the establishment of the Armoured Car Corps (ACC) on Establishment Day on 14 September…

60TH Anniversary of the deaths of Lt Patrick Riordan and Pte Andrew Wickham on 16 Dec 1961 during the Battle of the Tunnel. The is the third and final article to cover the deaths in combat of 36 Inf Bn personnel in Elisabethville in Dec 1961.  Compiled by George Kerton PRO IUNVA. Operation Unokat commenced…

We congratulate Maj Gen Maureen O’Brien who was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, with Honour at her stand down parade on Friday 13 Oct 2023 at McKee Bks at the end of forty two years service in the Defence Forces.  Gen O’Brien was born in Galway City in 1960 and after she finished her B…