The Distinguished Service Medal (An Bonn Seirbhise Dearscna)
by Michael McGoona
This decoration was instituted on 18 February 1964, principally as a result of continuing involvement of Irish troops in UN peacekeeping operations; there had previously been no requirement for such an award in a small army confined to a few barracks in Ireland. The medal, which is in three classes, may be awarded in recognition of individual or associated acts of bravery, leadership, resource or devotion to duty arising out of or associated with service in the Defence Forces of the Republic and not meriting the award of the Military Medal for Gallantry (NEWSLETTER No. 5).
Last Updated on Friday, 16 October 2009 01:34
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Heroism on the Coast of County Down
Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00
Eamonn O’Toole
by Eamonn O’Toole Few incidents illustrate the heroism of lifeboat men better than the following, reprinted by kind permission from The Lifesaving AWARDS RESEARCH JOURNAL, No 16, September 1992.
At 12:45 a.m. on the morning of 21 January 1942 a message came to Claughey (Co. Down) station of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from the coastguard stating that a steamer was aground half a mile off Ballyquinton. At 1:40 a.m. the lifeboat HERBERT JOHN was launched in a gale from the south-east with very heavy seas, sleet and rain. As the launch was in progress another message from the coastguard warned that the steamer was in a very rocky part and that the coastguard life-saving apparatus was also going to her assistance. The lifeboat reached the steamer at 3:30 in the morning. She was now high up on the rocks and it was impossible for the lifeboat to get near her, but her crew was safe. The coxswain intended to stand by, but he saw ships to the north, apparently off their course and heading for the shore. He at once went towards them, but found that several had already gone ashore and two others were about to strike. They were evidently part of a convoy. The lifeboat flashed her lamp. A destroyer, which was also heading inshore, put up star rockets and when she saw by their lights that it was the lifeboat which had signalled, she turned and headed out to sea, apparently towards the rest of the convoy.
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Formation of the Royal Irish Regiment
Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
The following interesting letter from Major General Roger Wheeler, Colonel of the Royal Irish Rangers, appeared in the December 1991 issue of THE RANGER, the regimental paper. It is reprinted here by kind permission of the Editor of that paper.
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He Should Not Have Been There
Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00
John Enticknap
by John Enticknap From time to time one encounters a medal which is described as rare to a particular regiment and one wonders why a soldier or a small group of soldiers appeared in a battle or campaign when their own regiment may have been stationed half a world away. It was a common practice in Victorian times for an officer or NCO, less often a private soldier, to be attached to another regiment because of his particular military expertise, local knowledge or family influence. Ambitious young officers in particular were ever eager to follow Sir Garnet Wolseley’s notorious dictum - “The best way to advancement in the Army is to try to get oneself killed as often as possible.”
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The Knights of Saint Patrick
Saturday, 01 February 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
The Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick was founded by King George the Third on 5 February 1783. Although the last appointment to the Order was made on 17 March 1936 and there are no surviving members, the Order is still extant and could be conferred by the Queen at anytime, although this is rather unlikely in present circumstances. There follows a complete list of the Knights by date of investment.
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Desert Storm Medal on Stamps
Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00
Michael Walsh
Over the past 50 years many countries have depicted their medals on postage stamps and a collection of such stamps - philatelists call it ‘thematic’ - makes an interesting sideline to our hobby. While such issues usually occur long after the creation of the awards they depict, the USA has gone one better by issuing a stamp only a month or so after the appearance of the medal. A current 29 cent stamp shows the ribbon and obverse of the SOUTH WEST ASIA SERVICE MEDAL. Above are the words HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED and below DESERT SHIELD - DESERT STORM.
More U.N. Medals for the Irish
Wednesday, 01 May 1991 00:00
Michael Walsh
Three Army officers from Limerick at present serving as observers in Central America with the United Nations have been awarded service medals. They are Col Michael O’Shea, a city man; Lt Col Michael Shannon, whose home is at Monaleen, and Commdt Maurice Canavan, also from the city. They received their medals from Canadian Brig-General Lewis McKenzie, Chief UN Military Observer in Central America, at a ceremony in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on St. Patrick’s Day. Present at the function were members of the Irish community in Honduras as well as Hondurans of Irish descent - names like O’Connor and McDonagh are not unusual there.
LIMERICK LEADER 6 April 1991
Lifesaving Awards
Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00
Eamonn O’Toole
by Eamonn O’Toole It is understandable that the great majority of collectors are drawn to military decoratioins and medals, often to the exclusion of all others. There are infinitely more of them in existence because of the millions of people who are or have been in military service and because of the proliferation of wars and conflicts which bedevil the human race. For some perverse reason there seems to be greater ‘glamour’ in, say, winning a Victoria Cross than being awarded a medal for saving lives in a shipwreck or other disaster.
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American Medal to Irish Band
Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00
H. Mason-Fennell
By H. Mason-Fennell St. Mary’s Prize Band, Limerick, paid a visit earlier this year to the United States of America, giving concerts in a number of places, including New Haven, Connecticut. As a memento of their visit to the town, the band members were presented with medals which had been issued to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Second Company, Governor’s Foot Guard of New Haven.
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Rarities Department No. 10 - The Order of Burma
Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00
Anonymous
This short-lived decoration may well be the rarest of British awards. It was created by Royal Warrant 10 May 1940 as a reward for “long, faithful and honourable service by members of certain of Our Armed Forces in Burma.” Appointments were to be made by the Governor of Burma annually to a fixed establishment of 16 for the Burma Army and 12 for the Burma Frontier Force and Burma Police. All recipients were to be Governor’s Commissioned Officers, the highest rank to which native Burmese could be appointed under the colonialist regime. Privileges included a small pension for life, advancement to higher honorary rank on retirement and the use of the post-nominal letters O.B.
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The Prussian and German Iron Cross
Saturday, 01 February 1992 00:00
Irwin Kenis
by Irwin Kenis The Iron Cross was instituted by King Friedrich Wilhelm II to reward military and civilian bravery during the wars against Napoleon - the date was 10 March 1813. The King drew up the original design but was not satisfied with it and invited the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel to submit a new design. This was accepted and the medal became the first Prussian war decoration which could be worn by officers and other ranks.
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The Gulf Campaign
Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00
Michael Walsh
It is likely that this brief ‘war’ will give rise to more medals than any campaign in the past. Most of the 28 Allied nations whose forces were involved in one degree or another have created, or are in the process of creating, medals and it appears that there will be some interchange of awards; the Saudi Arabian medal for the liberation of Kuwait, for example, is allegedly to be offered to ALL the troops who took part. One way or another the medal collector is going to have a ball and one can already envisage specialised collections for the campaign. And of course Sadam Hussein’s heroic survivors of the “Mother of Battles” will doubtless be suitably bedecked. The Editor would welcome details of any of these medals as they appear.
Collecting Irish Badges J16
Wednesday, 01 May 1991 00:00
Liam Byrne
by Liam Byrne To start off this issue I’m going to update some lists that I gave you in previous issues. To start with, the United Nations Force in Lebanon (U.N.I.F.I.L.).
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Military Memorials in Ireland
Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00
Eamonn O’Toole
by Eamonn O’Toole The name of Enniskillen will long live in infamy. It was at that Fermanagh town’s War Memorial during prayers on Remembrance Day 1987 that an IRA bomb exploded without warning, killing eleven innocent civilians and wounding about thirty others. The Memorial itself was undamaged but the town authorities and the Royal British Legion decided that it should be reconstructed to a new design which would include mention of the murdered civilians. Their names could not be shown on the memorial itself as this is of course reserved for those killed in war but they were included in bronze on the outside of the small surround wall and are additionally represented by eleven bronze doves affixed to the plinth. The plinth itself is surmounted by a life size bronze figure of a fusilier in WW1 dress, resting on his arms reversed. This figure was part of the original memorial, unveiled on 25 October 1922 by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Viscount Fitzalan. The bronze plaques around contain the names of over 700 of the fallen, very heavy losses for a small Irish town.
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Strange But True
Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
Godfrey Ledge served for many years in the Irish Army and retired the proud wearer of five medals, one of which, the Service Medal, bore on the reverse his name and army number - 8286.
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The Fighting Fusiliers
Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00
Anonymous
A Patriotic Song. Words by R.H. Lloyd. Music by H.E. McLean. F. Pitman Hart and Co. London. Price six pence.
This patriotic song, dedicated by kind permission of Colonel Tizard of the 1st Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, should be very popular with lovers of martial music and stirring verse, such as this is. The author is a member of a Co. Limerick family, and some years hence was an official in the local branch of the Bank of Ireland. He pays a very happy tribute indeed to the gallantry and heroism of the Munsters. The opening lines are:
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Regimental Colours in St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Saturday, 01 February 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
(JOURNAL No 18, page 11)
It has been ascertained that the regimental Colours on display in the north transept of St. Patrick’s Cathedral are as follows:
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The Royal Irish Revived
Thursday, 01 August 1991 00:00
Michael Walsh
By an extraordinary coincidence the Royal Irish Regiment is to be revived seventy years to the day after its disbandment. It was announced in the House of Commons on 23 July 1991 that the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defence Regiment are to amalgamate in Jul 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment of one regular and seven local service battalions. Those enthusiasts for the old 18th Foot, and there are not a few in the ranks of our members, will doubtless be thrilled by the news and their treasured mementoes will take on an entirely new significance.
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Mansion House Committee Medal for 'Palme' Disaster
Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00
James Morton
by James Morton On the morning of 24 December 1895 the barque PALME of Finland, then anchored about 1½ miles from Kingstown Harbour in Dublin Bay was observed to be dragging her anchor in a strong SSE gale. A lifeboat from Kingstown capsized while going to her assistance and the entire crew of fifteen were drowned. A second lifeboat which followed also capsized but righted itself without loss of life; it was so damaged however that it could play no further part in the rescue. Attempts on the following day by lifeboats from other stations, and a steam tug, also failed.
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Good Conduct Medal Awards for 1989
Thursday, 01 November 1990 00:00
Raymond M. Duke
by Raymond M. Duke The awards for 1988 were listed in JOURNAL No 11. Good Conduct Medal Awards for 1989
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