Private Timothy O'Hea VC
Saturday, 01 October 1988 00:00
Eamonn O'Toole
by Eamonn O'Toole In an article in NEWSLETTER No 4 (March 1988) I recounted the story of Private Timothy O’Hea and his two “VCs,” describing in detail the difference which were noted at the specialist examination of both medals in April 1953.
Now, through the courtesy of the Curator of the American Numismatic Society Museum in New York, I have copies of photographs taken at the time. Photo 1 above shows the reverse of the real VC which is held by the museum of the Royal Green Jackets at Winchester and Photo 2 shows the fake Cross which was returned to the ANS museum and is presumably no longer on display there. The difference in style of lettering and numbering can be clearly seen and can be summarised as follows:
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The Victoria Cross - Some Statistics
Tuesday, 01 May 1990 00:00
admin
The most VC’s awarded in a war were the 634 of WWI. The greatest number won in a single action was 11 at Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu war 1879. The school with most recipients is Eton College, 36, of which Col H.H. Jones was the last, in Falklands.
(Guinness Book of Records)
Peace Keepers
Saturday, 01 August 1992 00:00
Michael Kavanagh
by Michael Kavanagh
I would like to share with fellow members my research on three early U.N. medal groups awarded to Irish Army peace keepers. Over the years most of us have found it very difficult to obtain even small scraps of information members of the Irish Defence Forces. It is practically impossible to gain access to official sources and most requests for information meet with a negative reply - the term ‘confidential departmental information’ being commonly used. To date I have found no way round this problem. However, we can look to published sources, some of which contain useful titbits and even some lists and of course names are often mentioned in the text. We can also learn the facts from the medal recipients, either by personal contact or by tracing named medals such as the Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal or a gallantry award.
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John Gaynor - Irish Soldier and Peacekeeper
Monday, 01 February 1993 00:00
M. Kavanagh
by M. Kavanagh John Gaynor’s group consists of the Service Medal with Clasp, the UN Peacekeepers Medal, UN Congo Medal (2nd Type) and the UN Cyprus Medal, a group spanning twenty two years service. As is usual with research on Irish soldiers and their medals, official sources are of no help at all and one has to rely on one’s own initiative and a variety of unofficial sources. This is not all that unexpected when we consider that the army came into existence only 70 years ago and, like Britain, holds personal information under seal for a secure period - believed to be seventy years in the case of military personnel.
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An Interesting Recruit
Saturday, 01 March 2008 00:00
Liam Dodd
by Liam Dodd Patrick Keogh Skeeter Park Wexford a prominent figure in Irish-Ireland circles in Wexford has joined the navy. Mr Keogh was best known because of his connection with the Sinn Fein movement.
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All Ireland GAA Medal Auctioned for € 31,000
Friday, 01 June 2007 00:00
by James Scannell
by James Scannell On Wednesday 16 November 2005, a winner’s medal from the first All Ireland football final held in 1887 belonging to Malachi O Brien, a member of the winning Limerick team, was purchased by the Limerick Leader newspaper at auction in Sotheby’s in London. For this first and only occasion in place of a county team composed of players from teams through the country, the champion team in the county represented it. In this All Ireland final, Commercials then the champion team of Limerick represented the country while the opposing Co. Louth was represented by Dundalk Young Irelands team with the final being played in April 1888 at a site in Clonskeagh, Co. Dublin, known as the ‘The Big Bank.‘ Remarkably the winners medals were not presented to their recipients until 1912.
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Dispersed Treasures
Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
When the brokerage firm with which he was closely associated collapsed in April 1884, General U.S. Grant, former Commander of the US Army and twice President of the United States, was left virtually penniless. He made over the deeds of his New York home to one of his creditors and was forced to sell all his personal possessions, including items of immense historic value.
Last Updated on Thursday, 15 October 2009 15:12
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Courts Martial and Missing Medals
Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00
John Enticknap
By John Enticknap In 1992 some very interesting records will be released to researchers at the Public Records Office, Kew. For the past 75 years these records relating to military courts martial in WW1 have been kept secret but now they will become available up to 1916 and early 1917. They contain a list of persons executed by firing squad - ref WO 93/49. The proceedings of Field General Courts Martial (FGCM) are available in WO/213/6, 7, 8 and 9. Proceedings of General Courts Martial (GCM) are all in one volume and as this book goes right through to 1917 it is not yet released but will be available late next year under WO90/6.
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Lebanese Medals to Irish Soldiers
Tuesday, 01 August 1989 00:00
Ray Duke
by Ray Duke Irish military involvement in the troubled affairs of Lebanon dates back to 1958 when fifty officers were sought to serve with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO). After a gap of some twenty years, Ireland was once again asked to provide troops for the Lebanon but this time in battalion strength to form part of the United National Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The first men arrived by military transport of the USAF on 23 May 1978 and Irish troops have served there ever since. Their first fatality occurred on 23 August 1978 when Pte. Gerard Moon of the 4th Inf. Bn. died as a result of a road traffic accident when on patrol. Unfortunately, he was not the last; to date some 31 Irish soldiers have paid the ultimate price in the cause of peace in this theatre.
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Captain Philip Norbert Smith 1896 -1965 and a Wartime Escape
Monday, 01 September 2003 00:00
P.A. Walshe
by P.A. Walshe The life of a Cavan solicitor in the middle years of the 20th century was far removed ftom that of a young army officer serving in the trenches of northern France ftom 1916 to 1918 and later in prisoner of war camps under the control of the German army. But the career of my uncle, Philip N. Smith (always referred to by family and friends as ‘P.N.’) , embraced all of that.
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1st Battalion Leinster Regiment Memorial
Sunday, 01 June 2003 00:00
Liam Dodd
Parish Church Birr Co. Offalyby Liam Dodd A Memorial was erected in the Parish Church, Birr, Co. Offaly in memory of Captain Richard Trench Kirkpatrick D.S.O., Lieut Henry Edward Clonard Keating and Corporal Frederick Gale, 1st Battalion Leinster Regiment who were killed on service in Africa during the year 1898. The tablet was erected by the Officers of 1st Battalion Leinster Regiment.
Irish Heroes of the Albert Medal: An Update
Saturday, 01 March 2003 00:00
Allan Stanistreet
by Allan Stanistreet (OMRS 1888) Subsequent to my article in the February 2000 Journal of the MSOI and the appeal in the January 2001 edition, members may be interested to know that the projected book on Servicemen who won the AM but did not become GCs in 1971 was published on 21 September 2002. ‘Heroes of The Albert Medal’ (Token Publishing, Honiton, Devon). It contains such details and photographs as we presently have on four Irish heroes: Tom Crean, Michael Healy, James McCarthy and Edward McCarthy.
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Irish are Slaughtered in the Dardanelles
Saturday, 01 December 2001 00:00
Senan Molony
On the River Clydeby Senan MolonyThey died, they died. The S.S. River Clyde was run aground at ''V'' Beach on the 25th April 1915. This is where the Dublin Fusiliers disembarked to run up the beach. Many were drowned and killed when just disembarking. Of the 1100 men of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who took part in the landing, only 11 - one per cent – were to survive Gallipoli.
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Did the Munsters Have Pipers?
Wednesday, 01 February 1989 00:00
Michael Walsh
The following is an extract from a letter to the Editor from J. Brian Forde (No. 85); perhaps someone has the answer.
“In researching the uniforms, badges and medals of the pre-1922 disbanded regiments I think it is true to say that Munsters suffer most by way of printed material. I have never seen a reference to the Regt. having Pipers and indeed some years ago an official of the National Army Museum in London was quite categoric in his pronouncement on this matter. His word does not mean much as he said the same about the Leinsters - a point I very quickly put him right about! However I recently came across an old pile of letters which included two references that someone may be able to shed light on - I do hope so.
Last Updated on Sunday, 11 October 2009 19:27
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Some Thoughts on Courage
Wednesday, 01 November 1989 00:00
Anonymous
I have long ago given up trying to spot potential VC's by their looks but, from experience, I should say that those who perform individual acts of the highest physical courage are usually drawn from one of two categories. Either those with quick intelligence and vivid imagination or those without imagination and with minds fixed on the practical business of living. You might almost say, I suppose, those who live on their nerves and those who have no nerves. The one sees the crisis, his imagination flashes the opportunity and he acts. The other meets the situation without finding it so very unusual and deals with it in a matter of fact way. Field Marshal Sir William Slim
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The Royal Ulster Rifles Museum Library
Thursday, 01 February 1990 00:00
Lt. Col. W.R.H. Charley OBE
by Lt. Col. W.R.H. Charley OBEThe regimental museum of the Royal Ulster Rifles was established at the Regimental Depot, Armagh in 1935. On the outbreak of WW2 it moved to St. Patrick’s Barracks, Ballymena, where it was to remain for over 20 years. It was then transferred, with the Regimental HQ, to the centre of Belfast into newly built premises at the rear of the Northern Ireland War Memorial Building in Waring Street and in 1962 was officially opened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
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The Regiment - An Army Journal of the 19th Century
Wednesday, 01 August 1990 00:00
Anonymous
Your Editor recently had sight (through the courtesy of John Enticknap) of a well-preserved bound volume of a periodical called THE REGIMENT. First issued in April 1896 at a price of one penny, it appeared fortnightly and contained about 32 closely printed pages with copious illustrations and dealt with a great variety of military topics, British and international.
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Valuable Buttons
Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00
Anonymous
The Regiment 1896 During the Peninsular War some of the British troops were in the habit of tearing off the buttons from their greatcoats, hammering them flat, and passing them off for coins in exchange for Spanish wine. At last the Spaniards, finding they received nothing from the exchange but bids of lead, complained to General Beresford. The General immediately ordered a parade, pointed out the fraud to the men, and informed them that if at inspection on the following day any buttons were missing off greatcoats those men minus the buttons would be severely punished. There was an immediate demand for this article, and the consequence was that the Spaniards, in the end, made some capital bargains.
U.S.S.R. Medals - Their Value
Saturday, 01 February 1992 00:00
Eamonn O’Toole
by Eamonn O’TooleVeteran collectors will know that, until a few years ago, Soviet decorations and medals were hardly ever seen in dealers’ lists or at auction and were, in fact, among the most elusive of collectables. Principle reasons for this were that it was a serious offence to trade in such things inside the Soviet Union and their export was strictly forbidden. But, like so much else in the former Soviet empire, all this has now changed and we are witnessing a veritable flood of orders, decorations and medals on the market, a flood which is certain to increase in volume in the next few years.
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Easter Rising Certificate 1991
Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00
Michael Kavanagh
by Michael KavanaghOn 31 March 1991 relatives of 1916 veterans were presented with “Commemorative Certificates” at a special ceremony in Enniscorthy after the 75th Anniversary parade. The certificates were created by the County Wexford committee of Comoradh no Casca and presented by the Taoiseach, Charles J. Haughey T.D. Each recipient was required to furnish proof of the relative’s participation in the Easter Rising of 1916 and to wear the 1916 Medal of the persons named in the certificate.
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