Ulster Home Guard Award
Sunday, 01 February 1998 00:00
Charlie Raleigh
by Charlie RaleighThe Local Defence Volunteers was formed in May 1940, changing its title to Home Guard in July 1940. The Ulster Home Guard, unlike the Home Guard on mainland United Kingdom who looked to the Territorial Army for essential services, looked to the Ulster Special Constabulary, until the adoption, in early 1942, of the title Ulster Home Guard.
Platoon Sergeant W.B. Anderson was awarded a British Empire Medal (Civil Division), notified in the London Gazette on February 14th, 1944 with the following citation.
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The Baltic States - Their Orders Revived?
Wednesday, 01 August 1990 00:00
E. H. O'Toole
by E.H. O’Toole “The fight for independence in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia has led to an unlikely knock on the door of Spink and Son of St. James’s, the Royal medal makers. The Baltic states have approached the firm through an intermediary about restoring pre-war civil and military decorations and creating new honours to commemorate the struggle with the Soviet Union. There is no shortage of old decorations. Spinks has details of ten defunct Baltic orders, none awarded since the states became part of the Soviet Union. Most of them are represented by strikingly ornate silver-faced medals.
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Rarities Department No. 7 - Irish Lights Medal for Valour
Thursday, 01 February 1990 00:00
Anonymous
The Commissioners of Irish Lights, established in 1867, are responsible for the superintendence and management of lighthouses, light vessels, buoys and other aids to navigation throughout all Ireland and its adjoining seas and islands. In 1974 the Commissioners instituted two medals for award to members of the Service who had rendered exceptional services or displayed great gallantry on duty. They are the Gold Medal for Valour and the Silver Medal for Meritorious Conduct. The first, which has been awarded on only three occasions, is probably one of the rarest Irish medals and is certainly the most attractive from the point of view of design and manufacture. The insignia is in nine carat gold, 34mm in diameter. It may be awarded to members of the Service for conspicuous bravery in saving or endeavouring to save life at great personal risk to themselves and there is provision for posthumous awards.
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Memorials of the Royal Irish Regiment (1)
Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00
E. H. O'Toole
by E.H. O’TooleElsewhere in this JOURNAL will be found an 1896 description of the military barracks at Clonmel, Tipperary, complete with a contemporary sketch of the main building and a war memorial in the form of a Celtic cross. The main barrack buildings are no more; like so many of their kind they were destroyed by republicans during the Civil War in an effort to deny facilities to the National Army. The war memorial (Fig 1) happily remains intact in the care of the Irish Army and now stands on the edge of the parade ground behind the main flag pole and the saluting base (Fig 2).
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New U.S.A. Medals
Saturday, 01 February 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
It has recently been announced that the U.S. Merchant Marine Medals for WW2 are to be abolished and replaced by medals covering WW2, Korea and Vietnam. A new Merchant Marine Expeditionary Medal will also be struck.
THE MEDAL COLLECTOR Vol 42 Pp15.
Awards of the Pakenham Family
Friday, 01 February 1991 00:00
W.B. Mauk
by W.B. Mauk The Pakenhams were Anglo-Normans from Suffolk who acquired land in County West Meath in the 1650’s. Granted the title Baron Longford in 1765, and Earl of Longford in 1785, they were firmly established in the Irish Peerage, making West Meath their family seat. Members of the family have distinguished themselves in battle on land and at sea as far back as the 17th century and as a result they have been awarded an interesting and varied array of orders and medals. There follows the first of a series of articles chronicling these awards.
Identification Parade - What is it No. 15
Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00
Michael Walsh
by George CallaghanPage 57 of the book by Eamonn O’Toole deals with the medal issued by the Order of Malta to mark the Papal Visit to Ireland in September 1979. Another medal of the same size and with the same type of suspension has been observed, the obverse being identical to that of the Order of Malta medal. The upper half of the reverse has the inscription in three lines CK / PAPAL STEWARD / 1979 and the Tower half is blank, possible to allow for naming. The example seen did not have a ribbon.
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Inscriptions on the Memorials on Page 18
Friday, 01 November 1991 00:00
Michael Walsh
Plate 1:
In memory of JOHN COURTENAY JULIAN, Captain XXX Regiment, who died 23 May 1879. Erected by his brother officers in affectionate remembrance.
Plate 2:
In fond memory of ARTHUR BELL Esq, Surgeon 36th Regiment, who died of cholera at Barra Camp near Peshawur, India on 2nd October 1869, Aged 41. This tablet is erected by his brother officers as a tribute of their love and esteem.
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On the Somme 1 July 1916
Tuesday, 01 May 1990 00:00
Anonymous
Some men (of the 36th Div) had acquired orange lilies, the symbolic flowers of the Battle of the Boyne celebration. A few had managed to stow away their Orange sashes and now they placed them around their shoulders. Some gained solace in a sense of corporate identity and extemporised an Orange or Masonic lodge meeting in the last minutes before going over the top.
THE ROAD TO THE SOMME Philip Orr, 1987
Thomas Tracey - Deserter Extraordinaire
Wednesday, 01 May 1991 00:00
Paul Morrissey
by Paul MorrisseyWhilst doing research at the Public Record Office at Kew recently I came across a Medal Record Card for an Irishman with what can only be called a ‘kangaroo’ career in and out of the British Army during the Great War.
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Gallipoli Remembered
Sunday, 01 March 1987 00:00
T. Brooks
by T. BrooksI have just recently returned from my third visit to the Gallipoli battlefields. This trip was somewhat special, although I consider all my journeys to this sacred place to be special. This trip was made on behalf of the Military Historical Society of Ireland. I acted as a guide to three senior members of that society. The society is taking 120 of its members to Gallipoli in September.
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The Order of Malta
Sunday, 01 May 1988 00:00
Michael Walsh
On 11 April and 1988 an English monk, Fra Andrew Bertie, was elected 78th Prince Grand Master of the world's oldest and most distinguished Order of Chivalry. The Order of Malta or, to give it the full title, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, was founded in Jerusalem 900 years ago to care for pilgrims to the Holy Land. In the following centuries it became a sovereign entity and a great military power which dominated the eastern Mediterranean and effectively halted the advance of Islam.
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Sunken Gold - The Story of H.M.S. Laurentic
Sunday, 01 August 1993 00:00
James Morton
by James Morton I first heard of the Laurentic when I was on a visit to Fanad Head lighthouse in North Donegal. A casual enquiry about a rig anchored some two miles or so offshore elicited the information that “they were diving on the wreck of the Laurentic for sunken gold.” I also learned that the Laurentic had been a British ship sunk during the 1914-18 War while carrying a large cargo of gold. Intrigued by what I had heard, I decided to find out more about the ship and the following is the dramatic story of the Laurentic and her cargo of gold.
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Anglo-Irish War Memorial
Sunday, 01 May 1994 00:00
Michael Kavanagh
by Michael KavanaghIn the square of the beautiful little village of Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon, stands a well kept memorial made from local stone, erected to the memory of three I.R.A. activists from that area. They were members of the local Battalion and were killed in action during an attack on the local police barracks.
The inscription on the memorial is in Irish and English and reads as follows:
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Military Memorials In Ireland: The Wellington Memorial
Monday, 01 August 1994 00:00
Eamonn O' Toole
by Eamonn O’TooleOn the 20th July 1813 the following notice appeared in ‘Faulkner’s Dublin Journal’: “Monument to Lord Wellington. This tribute of a Nation’s admiration of the transcendent exploits of her son and hero is, we are extremely grateful to state, about to be undertaken, and we are satisfied that no honourable memorial was ever adopted with more sincerity and zeal that it will be, or matured with more celerity, if the impulse of public feeling can promote its completion. The Earl Roden has the credit of originating this acknowledgement to illustrious worth and his Lordship’s project has had an instantaneous adoption where it has been mentioned. A meeting of noblemen and gentlemen takes place at the Rotunda this day to arrange the plan and progress of the undertaking.”
The Great George
Tuesday, 01 February 1994 00:00
Michael Walsh
Worn pendant from the collar of the Order of the Garter, this outsize George, in enamel and encrusted with diamonds, was made on the order of Queen Anne for the first Duke of Marlborough. It was given to the Duke of Wellington on his appointment to the Garter and retained by the family with Royal permission. It was last worn by Sir Winston Churchill at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, it was stolen in an armed raid on the Wellington Museum at Apsley House in 1969 and has never been recovered.
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Men of Brookfield
Sunday, 01 March 2009 00:00
Liam Dodd
by Liam Dodd Brookfield Buildings at the start of the 20th Century was an urban Council housing estate of about one hundred small houses or so, in the costal village of Blackrock, County Dublin, five miles south of the city of Dublin. The Blackrock Urban Council had applied to the Local Government Board seeking sanction for the erection of artisan’s dwellings on the site at Brookfield and requested a loan of £14,500 for the erection of the houses. Permission was granted and the building of the houses commenced around 1899-1900.
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Irish Naval Service N.C.O. Rank Insignia
Monday, 01 November 1993 00:00
Michael Walsh
by Tom O’Neill Earlier this year a new form of rank insignia was put on general issue to Naval N.C.O.’s from the rank of leading seaman to that of senior chief petty officer. Prior to this all N.C.O.’s within these ranks wore gold braid chevrons on their upper right sleeve and their divisional patch on the left. The insignia was and still is sewn directly onto the tunic and great-coat but on all other dress was worn on a brassard on the right sleeve with the divisional patch worn above.
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The U.S. Medal of Honor and Andrew’s Raiders
Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00
G. Callaghan
by G. CallaghanThe first Medals of Honor actually presented went to six soldiers at a Washington ceremony on 25 March 1863. The citation declared that “… they penetrated nearly 200 miles south into the enemy’s territory and captured a railroad train at Big Shanty, Georgia, in an attempt to destroy the bridges and track between Chattanooga and Alabama.” Behind this statement lies an extraordinary ‘cloak and dagger’ operation worthy of being made into a film. (It was! ED)
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Soldiers Who Played Football
Wednesday, 01 June 1994 00:00
Michael Kavanagh
by Michael Kavanagh At six-thirty on the morning of Sept. 25th 1915, a whistle blew and a cry was heard “Irish up and over.” Thus began the Battle of Loos for the 1st 18th London Regiment (London Irish Rifles).
There were three divisions of the 4th Army Corps involved in the Battle of Loos. The London Irish were part of the division totally manned by London Regiments and they were chosen to lead their division.
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