Post 6 Newsletter Vol 3, Issue 9 Aug 2022

ONUC – Operation Unokat 5 – 20 December 1961 INTRODUCTION This is the first of three articles to cover the fighting in Elisabethville during Dec 1961 where battle casualties for 35 Inf Bn and 36 Inf Bn amounted to 4 Killed and 32 Wounded.  The breakdown of the figures are:  35 Inf Bn had 7…

In this article we look at one incident that happened sixty years ago in the Congo in Nov 1961 when Italy suffered thirteen casualties in a mass murder in what has been called the Kindu Massacre. This event shows that UN peacekeepers who might not be considered to be on the frontline were open to…

By PRO IUNVA An Tánaiste, Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, TD reviewed personnel of 123 Inf Bn at Kilkenny Castle on Tuesday, 31Oct 2023, the unit will shortly deploy to Lebanon for service with UNIFIL. In his address, An Tánaiste had special words for the families of the personnel:  “On…

Patrick Eugene Watters formerly of Crossmaglen, County Armagh joined the Irish Defence Forces in March 1960. Corporal Watters served with the 5th Infantry Battalion (Dublin) and remained in service until resigning from the Army reserves in March 1965. During his military career he took part in overseas duty during two of the United Nations (ONUC)…

The Irish United Nations Veterans Association (IUNVA) was formed at a meeting on the 10th Feb 1990 when a group of personnel led by Maj Gen Vincent Savino (Retd) and currently President of (IUNVA) identified a need to look after Veterans and their families who had fallen on hard times and where in some instances…

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…