Post No 6 Newsletter Vol 4 Issue 2 June 2023

Forty five years ago, the first Irish unit to deploy to South Lebanon received a visit from the Minister for Defence Bobby Molloy who was accompanied by Lt Gen Carl O’Sullivan COS, HE Eamon Ó Tuathail Irish Ambassador to Lebanon, Comdt Jimmy Flynn ADC to COS and M Healy Sec DOD. This was the first…

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…

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…

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…

By PRO IUNVA Thirty five years ago, on 29 Sep 1988, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided that the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize would be awarded to the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces.  The Nobel Committee announced  “The peacekeeping forces of the United Nations have, under extremely difficult conditions, contributed to reducing tensions where an armistice has…