Rarities Department 1 - The Hova Kingdom Awards
Sunday, 01 May 1988 00:00
Michael Walsh
For most of the 19th century the island of Madagascar, now the Democratic Republic of Madagacar, was ruled by kings and queens of the Hova dynasty, the first ruler assuming power in 1810 and the last being deposed and exiled by the French in 1897. They created a small number of orders and medals but very little is known about them and with the fall of the dynasty they were no longer awarded and became extremely rare. Among those which are recorded and of which some illustrations exist are: The Order of Radama II
The Order of Ranavalona
The Medal of Merit of Radama II
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Identification Parade - What is it No. 18
Monday, 01 June 1992 00:00
Tadhg Moloney
Bronze coloured metal lapel pin, 23mm in diameter, in the form of the standard army cap badge. In place of the usual legend there is a green enamelled garter with the gold letters A.O. EX - O.A.M.N.A. and on a green enamelled scroll below the gold letters TRADE UNION. The inscription is reputed to mean ARMY OFFICERS, ex-OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE NATIONAL ARMY, a very cumbersome title indeed. This seems to be a very rare piece of Irish militaria. Can anyone give us the story behind it?
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Book Review: The Royal Irish Rangers 1968-1992 (Review No. 2)
Tuesday, 01 February 1994 00:00
Michael Walsh
The Royal Irish Rangers 1968-1992. Softback, 60 pages with profuse illustrations and regimental Colours on outside back cover. From Regimental Secy. R.I.R. St. Patrick’s Barracks, Ballymena, Co. Antrim. This booklet on the short life of the Rangers is to be recommended. In addition to a year by year account of activities it contains a Roll of Honour, List of Appointments, Honours and awards and LSM for Regular and Territorial Army personnel. Could that Sgt. P.B. Morrissey whose name appears again and again in the list of Territorial Efficiency Medals and Clasps be our Life Member No. 109?
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I.D.F. Insignia
Monday, 01 November 1993 00:00
Michael Walsh
NAVAL SERVICE – PIPE BAND.Illustrated below is a badge worn on a black civilian sweater by members of the Naval Service pipe band. The details are a black background with gold, gold lettering border and anchor. The drum is red and pipes are green and red.
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Book Review: The Royal Irish Regiment 1992 -
Sunday, 01 August 1993 00:00
Michael Walsh
The 4th and 5th Rangers amalgamated on 1st April, 1993, under the title of 4/5 Bn The Royal Irish Regiment (V) - the Unit will wear the Rangers cap badge. They will not be involved in security arrangements in Northern Ireland but will continue to have a NATO commitment. With the formation of the new Royal Irish Regiment the 4/5 Rangers will be in a similar position to the North Irish Militia in 1967/68 that is without a parent Regular Unit of the same name.
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U.S. Soldiers in Northern Ireland During WW2
Sunday, 01 November 1992 00:00
Michael Walsh
Something over 300,000 American soldiers, sailors and airmen served in Northern Ireland between January 1942 and D-Day in Europe, May 1944. It was a major training area for the vast forces being assembled for the assault on Nazi Europe and there can be no doubt that such enormous numbers of young Americans made a deep and lasting impression on the Province. Thousands of Ulster girls married GI’s and some return now and again as grandmothers. There were a host of jokes in circulation at the time, some scurrilous and some quite funny:
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Book Review: Jim Cusack on a History of the U.D.R.
Saturday, 01 May 1993 00:00
Michael Walsh
JIM CUSACK ON A HISTORY OF THE U.D.R. THE ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT: AN INSTRUMENT FOR PEACE? BY CHRIS RYDER METHUEN 263. £14.99 IN U.K. Were the Northern Talks ever to get going beyond the ridiculously complicated initial stages and actually move on to matters of substance, at some stage the two sides - in the North, at least - would fall out over the subject of security.
At the centre of any debate on security would be issues that divide nationalist and unionist as no other, and almost certainly the key argument would be over what to do with the Ulster Defence Regiment.
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Pte. Albert Peter Halligan
Tuesday, 01 November 1994 00:00
James Morton
by James MortonSome years ago I obtained an Egypt Medal with the clasp ‘The Nile 1884-85’ together with the Khedive’s Star to 2154 Pte. Albert Peter Halligan, Royal West Kent Regt. A fairly common pair, nothing out of the ordinary and a bit the worse for wear.
His service papers showed that he had been a tailor from Loughrea, Co. Galway, and had enlisted in the Royal West Kents in Dublin on the 23rd of July 1880. He seemed rather young to be a soldier, barely fourteen years old and was only 4 ft. 8 ins. in height, but I am sure he would have been typical of many of the recruits of the time.
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Memorial to the Light Brigade
Wednesday, 01 February 1995 00:00
Jim Morton
by Jim MortonOn the 25th of October, 1854 there occurred one of the most famous episodes in the history of warfare - the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava in the Crimea. The 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars took part in the charge and lost 22 killed, 23 wounded and 7 prisoners out of 116 men engaged.
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Cloth Insignia of the I.D.F. (Part 8)
Tuesday, 01 August 1995 00:00
by J. McDonnell
by J. McDonnell
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Cloth Insignia of the I.D.F. (Part 9)
Wednesday, 01 November 1995 00:00
J. McDonnell
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The “Ginchy” Cross
Thursday, 01 February 1996 00:00
Liam Byrne
by Liam ByrneThe Sixteenth Irish Division took part in the Battle of the Somme in September 1916. On the 3rd of September they captured Guillemont and on the 9th they stormed the village of Ginchy. The losses of the Division in these two battles were 263 officers and 4091 other ranks, a total of four thousand three hundred and fifty-four dead.
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Cloth Insignia of the I.D.F. (Part 11)
Wednesday, 01 May 1996 00:00
J. McDonnell
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Cloth Insignia of the I.D.F. (Part 13)
Saturday, 01 February 1997 00:00
J. McDonnell
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Cloth Insignia of the I.D.F. (Part 12)
Thursday, 01 August 1996 00:00
J. McDonnell
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The Defence Forces Around the World
Monday, 01 May 1995 00:00
Michael Walsh
 Click to see larger image.
Copyright Duration Table
Sunday, 01 December 1996 00:00
Michael Walsh
(Note: an arrow before the date means up to, an arrow after the date means and after.) LITERARY WORKSPublished Type of work
| Date created
| Duration
| In author's lifetime
| All
| Year of death + 70
| After author's death
| -> 31.7.89
| Year published + 70
| After author's death
| 1.8.89-> | Year of death + 70
| | Anonymous | All | Year published + 70
|
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In Search of Lost Heroes
Saturday, 01 October 1988 00:00
admin
The Victoria Cross is the most worthy medal of all, the one awarded for supreme valour in time of war. I have written often about the homebred military men who have won it and their stories never grow old.
But how many VC winners lie buried in Ulster? Harry Irwin of Ravenhill poses the question today and provides the snap of the grave of one James Duffy in Letterkenny, Donegal who earned his medal in Palestine during the Great War. Private Duffy was a stretcher bearer at Kerina Pass on 27 December 1917 and saved two wounded comrades when the stretcher party came under heavy fire. He was serving in the 6th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers with the 10th Irish Division at the time.
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Identification Parade
Monday, 01 May 1989 00:00
admin
What is it? No. 2This is the cap badge of the Irish Customs and Excise. No. 89 Denis Gimblette.
What is it? No 3Bronze medal, 36mm diameter with ribbon in three equal stripes of white, green and yellow. Under wreath on obverse if “R.C. OLDFIELD REGD. NO 311860.” No. 80 Seoirse Devlin.
Last Parade of the ‘Skins’
Saturday, 01 August 1992 00:00
admin
On a grey parade ground in a camp built for Hitler’s Panzer Korps, 300 years of British and Irish history came to an abrupt halt at the weekend. The storm clouds of the previous days pulled back and, in sunshine, the scarlet and gold Standard of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards was marched off the square and into the pages of history.
The Skins, as they are universally known, were Ireland’s premier cavalry regiment. The eponymous half of the modern regiment, a product of the 1922 army reforms itself, was raised in the Protestant town in 1689. By 1 August this year they will cease to exist, felled not in battle, but in peace, vanquished by former Defence Secretary Tom King’s Options for Change review. The neighbouring 4th/7th Dragoon Guards will join them to form the Royal Dragoon Guards.
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