Medal Society of Ireland

Ireland’s youngest military hero who died trying to keep the peace in The Lebanon was honoured on the 11th of October last year.

Nineteen-year-old Billy Kedian was posthumously awarded the coveted Military Star.

by Liam Dodd

Doctor Phoebe Chopple, R.A.M.C. attached Q.M.A.A.C.

For gallantry and devotion to duty during an enemy air raid. While the air raid was in progress, Dr. Chopple attended to the needs of the wounded regardless of her own safety.

by Liam Dodd

Irish Guardsman's Terrible Experience

Sergeant John O'Dwyer, of the Irish Guards, has written a letter to his father, Mr. Samuel O'Dwyer, Main Street, Cashel, from a hospital in Paris. 

He says:- "I don't know whether you heard it or not, or probably you may have read my name on the papers, but I am now in the above hospital with one leg (right) shot clean off, and then I consider myself very lucky at that, as I was about the twentieth man (including prisoners) that has escaped alive out of about two companies, or 200 men, of the Irish Guards.

Some idea of the Irish part in these struggles (the wars in Europe in the 18th century) can be gleaned from the following figures of Irish losses, given in the IRISH SWORD:

 THE WILD GEESE, Maurice Hennessy, London 1973

by Patrick Casey

The only Dickin Medal awarded to an Irish animal or bird came up for auction in Whyte's Auction in Dublin on the 25th September last.

The Dickin Medal is named after Mrs. Maria Elisabeth Dickin who founded the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. It was instituted in 1943 and is circular in shape and is supported from a green, red and white ribbon. The obverse has within two sprays of laurel tied with a ribbon, the inscription:

P D S A    For Gallantry   We also serve

by Tom O'Neill

A medallion has been struck to commemorate the disestablishment of the Survey Company, Corps of Engineers of the Irish Army. The Company was disestablished with effect from 1st November 1998.

by Eamonn O'Toole

The Highway Restaurant at Dorradoyle on the main Killarney Road out of Limerick city is a well known eatery where an abundance of good food may be obtained at reasonable prices from eight in the morning till three the following morning. A distinctive feature of its internal decor is a display of large framed paintings of some of the vessels of Irish Shipping Ltd. which plyed the seas for neutral Eire between 1939 and 1946 - see Journal No. 9, page 38. The house menu also depicts some of these old ships with potted histories, extraordinary reading in itself. 

by Trevor Davies

It would be difficult to find a rarer Queen's South Africa Medal 1899-1902, with the very common bars, Cape Colony, South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902 than those awarded to the Irish Guards who, as a requirement, came into existence because of the Boer War.

Queen Victoria, it is reliably reported, never really understood the Irish and in the last years of her reign more than ever wanted to be at peace with all of her people. The creation of the Irish Guards was virtually her last major involvement with the British Army when, at the Queen's bequest, Army Order No. 77, promulgated on the 1st April 1900, created a new regiment of Foot Guards to be known as the Irish Guards. They would be the 4th Regiment of the Brigade of Guards.

by Michael Kavanagh

This relatively scarce medal was authorised by Army order 211 of December 1904. The obverse cif the medal bears the effigy of the reigning sovereign. The reverse of the medal has the inscription meetly for Militia for Long Service and Conduct. The colour of the ribbon is blue and it is 1-1/4" wide. The naming is impressed in sans-serif capitals and bears the recipients number, rank, initials, surname and regiment.

The following regulations governing the award are taken from the relevant army order.

by Col. P.E. O'Hannluain

The wearing of Unit Badges, or 'flashes' as they are more commonly, and perhaps, erroneously, called is a fairly recent innovation in the Army. 'Recent' meaning, of course, in the last 20 to 25 years. During the Emergency and for a few years afterwards infantry men wore a small metal collar badge in the shape of a shield on which the traditional crossed-rifles of the corps were embossed. Under this badge the numeral of the battalion was pinned. This identified the unit. When the 6 Battalion marched into Athlone forty years ago they wore this collar-badge with the figure '6' underneath. This type of badge was subsequently discarded for the 'target and cross-rifles' type but unfortunately the numeral was omitted. While this could have been called a retrograde step it did advance the cause of the unit badge (flash) as the units wanted specific identification. During the 1960's 6 Battalion adopted their first unit badge. They were possible one of the first infantry units to do so. The badge had a light blue background with a 'bridge' picked out in white thread representing the briddge of the Battalion's home town of Athlone. It reflected the historic siege of Athlone in 1690 between the Franco-Irish Jacobite troops and the Anglo-Dutch Williamites in which the bridge was a focal point. In the badge, the broken bridge is reflected in the waters of the Shannon, and picked out in black thread. The figure '6' was in gold.

First World War signaller who won a DCM after shrugging off a gas attack and heavy shellfire to repair telephone wires at Ypres

Norman Tennant, who has died aged 101, was one of the last holders of a Distinguished Conduct Medal won in the First World War. His citation recorded that the award was “for conspicuous gallantry when continuously repairing telephone wires under heavy shellfire and a gas attack in the Ypres Salient“.

by Niall Murray

Irish soldiers killed on United Nations peacekeeping missions were honoured at a ceremony in Dublin. 

Defence Minister, Michael Smith, presented the new Military Star medal to families of 36 Defence Force personnel, killed on duties overseas. 

Those remembered included soldiers who died in the Congo and in Lebanon. Minister Smith paid special tribute to all the brave Irish soldiers who never came home from peacekeeping duties. 

by Tom O'Neill

This is the latest Irish military medal to be instituted and is to be presented to the next-of-kin of the Irish Defence Forces who have lost their lives as a result of hostile action while serving overseas. Members of the I.D.F. who lose their lives as a result of sickness, accident, etc. while serving overseas do not qualify for the medal.

The medal which is an eight pointed star is of bronze, 35mm wide and 35mm high and depicted in the centre is the dead figure of Cuchullain, similar to the centre of the 1916 Medal. The medal is solid but I have it illustrated voided so that the figure can be seen.

by Michael Kavanagh