Harry Kavanagh, Jim Nolan, Sean Penston receive their prizes. I got this photo from the C Coy Facebook page, where Harry comments that Sean Penston won 5 Eastern Command and 2 All-Armies without ever firing a shot! – he was sub on all occasions.
In a previous posting regarding “The FCA an Illustrated History” I mentioned there was only one photo of 21Bn. Well Des Fitzgerald has found another photo featuring himself, but this one was taken during his sojourn in Cork. Des was a member of B Coy who transferred to 23 Inf Bn while he was studying in Cork. Des takes up the story:
The photo is on page 83, I’m the second from the left in the rear rank. I served with A Company whose area of ops was north of the city. Because this GoH was in the southern suburbs (Wilton) it was B Coy’s show and the other companies were there to boost the numbers.
It was in early 1985, which was the year of Cork’s 500 celebrations. It was one of the anniversary celebrations in the 1980’s to drum up business. I think Galway started with 500 years, Cork topped that with 800 and then in 1988 Dublin beat them all with the Millennium. It was a precursor for ‘The Gathering’ and I suppose they were hoping to drum up a few tourists. I think the main result was that Paddy Hilliary seemed to be in Cork every second week-end; he was on first name terms by the end of the year. In fact there are three photos of Guards of Honour for Paddy (pages 79, 83 and 84) in the book; and he wanted the job of President!, a high price.
I got the following photographs from Dickie’s family via my Dad this week. Dick joined the FCA on the same day as my father – they went down together to sign up. Jack Haughton, Dick’s brother was already a member before them. That was in 1955 and Dick was to have 34 years service in the South County and later the 21st Battalion ahead of him.
Dick’s original standing down parade in 1988 was due to be held in Kilworth Camp but was cancelled as a mark of respect following the death of Arthur Plunkett. This parade was then held opposite the Royal Irish Yacht Club and on to the Coastguard Station.
I have already related many stories of Dick’s legendary wit in this blog and he will also go down in the history of 21st Battalion as whenever the order to “size” was given – “Pat Holohan on the right, Dickie Haughton on the left – single rank… SIZE!”
Short episode of officers preparing for the TEWT mentioned in Aidan Teevan’s history. Aidan did go on a bit about the “excellent al fresco meal” provided by Frank Yorke and later I will post some video of the meal, which shows the main attraction to be a large bottle of Valpolicella or similar fine vintage.
Here Dick Shortt displays all his skills of hand/eye co-ordination and dexterity that made him great. The attributes displayed that did, in fact, make him a great officer are the unflappability, recovery, poise and dignity shown in the face of adversity.
Eamon Timlin commands a very good foot drill display at the Coastguard Station in Dun Laoghaire. The eagle-eyed amongst you may also be able to pick out some well known names in the spectators. There are also a number of Mums and Dads, wives and girlfirends in the crowd who quite rightly show their appreciation of an impressive spectacle.
A future video will show the inspection and prize giving.
The pictures above show the huts in the Glen in the 1970s and today. I expect that some of the older soldiers on this site will find the photo on the right un-recognisable.
Heating
Previous posts have commented on the pot-bellied stoves and attempts to get them to glow red. Turf had to be collected in old blankets and as often as not would be damp. The room would fill with smoke and the rain would drip down through the chimney opening. Look at the “now” photo on the right and on the left side a radiator is clearly visible and on the wall we can see a thermostat! Of course getting the place warm was only one challenge – keeping it so was even more difficult. David Flood recalls how pillows were often employed to block the windows where the missing glass would let in the elements.
Sheep
If there is one thing the Glen is not short of, it’s sheep. In the early days, before there were female members of An Forsa, guys could be seen each evening washing, shaving and applying after shave – well you wouldn’t want to get an ugly one, would you! The sheep would also come into the camp and shelter under the huts. One day a recruit was passing the sergeant’s hut and asked Johnny Byrne what the sheep was doing lying there. “That’s where I throw them when I’m finished with them”, he explained, the callous cad.
Nightlife
There was lots of choice for going out when on camp in the Glen. There was both Fenton’s AND the Glen Inn. I seem to recall that one of the greatest physical challenges on camp was not climbing Keadeen or fording the Slaney, but climbing the south face of the jacks in Fenton’s after a few pints. On one camp I over-heard a fellow talking to his mates about the night-life – “There’s no action around here at all”, says he, “Tonight I’m off to DONARD”! I still cannot imagine Donard as the Sin City of County Wicklow.
Our latest video episode is of an 84mm Anti-tank shoot, again from Pat Holohan’s collection and also probably from around 1987. The episode opens with some excellent scenes from the firing point showing impacts on the target and a splendid air burst of an anti-personnel round at 0:58.
We then settle in for a period of standing around doing nothing, and this takes up about 75% of the total time of the video. Par for the course on an FCA field day it seems! 3:10 minutes in and we see someone breaking the cleaning the rod in the barrel. Much investigative work has gone into trying to ascertain the perpetrator, but to no avail. The team at “All things 21st” are pretty sure it is not “The Colonel” as he would have just looked towards the camera and laughed.
At 2:45 we see a group including Mick O’Toole, Deccy Phelan, Eamon Timlin, Paddy Whelan and most importantly Des Fitzgerald and Ciaran Giles. Giles can be seen to be actually almost on the ground as he tries to cope with effects of the hangover from hell. Des Fitzgerald and Ciaran, had been on the batter the night before, and thinking they had no duties the following day, had well and truly pushed the boat out. A closer inspection of the scene will show that Des has a Gustaf and is on security duty. We can only surmise that whoever decided to give him a gun and 84 rounds of ammunition had gone to bed early and not witnessed the copious amounts of alcohol consumed! At 3:34 we can almost smell their breath when Gilesy tries to wave away the camera and Des gives the “scowl of death”, I do note that the Gustaf is gone by this stage.
Glen of Imaal 1994 (Timmy Doyle collection)
This picture came from the C Coy Facebook page, the consensus is that it was taken at annual camp in The Glen in 1994. As well as some comments regarding leaky pens ruining pockets a thread started regarding Johnny Byrne seen here on the right.
David Flood recalled the first time Johnny had them on an exercise in Kilbride. He told them that his martial arts skills meant that he was a trained killer, and had to hold back. His karate skills were so perfected that when he saluted he nearly killed himself!
There followed a series of complimentary comments about John – how he commanded a lot of respect from the younger members and one guy explained that he was one of the nicest men he ever trained under. Those of us who have known Johnny down through the years would wholeheartedly echo those sentiments.
This photo was taken on the day of the mortar shoot that forms the subject matter of previous posts. It is the security detail on the day.
Admin Edit: The personnel involved from left to right are Declan Gaffney, Tony Taaffe, The Colonel, Enda Allen, Eamon Timlin, Marcus Moraghan and Kevin McGrath. Taaffey’s moustache looks like it was stolen from a First World War recruiting poster and he seems to be using his Gustaf as a guitar. In fact he looks like he is playing the opening chord of A Hard Day’s Night!
Deveraux’s (The Grove Bar) today.
Devereaux’s pub, strategically located on the old Wexford road out of Dublin, became very popular as a stopping off point for bikers and other day-trippers. It was also the closest pub to the firing range at Kilpeddar and so was the first point of call after a range day. Of course if you were on weapons duty, and had to go back to barracks you missed the opportunity of cocktails in the afternoon.
Christy Shaughnessy, Rossa Lyons, Peter Campbell, Johnny Byrne, Deccy Phelan, Alan Kavanagh and Arthur Plunkett
The photos here were taken on what Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh once described as “the sort of sunny summer’s Sunday, that you will use in the future, to prove summers were sunnier, when you were a boy”!
Theres always one to do the bunny ears! John Curtis and Johnny Byrne
In the above photo Johnny Byrne is eating the remnants of that Irish culinary delight – the pub sandwich. In his book “McCarthy’s Bar”, Pete McCarthy described how, back in the day, the height of Irish pub grub was the cheese sandwich, and in very sophisticated establishments you could get it toasted! Johnny is holding the remains of the plastic bag in which sandwiches were toasted in those far-off days. The use of the bag ensured that the sandwich tasted of plastic, and you burnt your fingers on the contents. Myles na gCopaleen’s Dublin character from “The Brother” describes a pub where he recommended the food because “they have a nice clean woman to come in to make the sandwiches, as there is nothing worse, than thumb-prints in sandwiches!” The Grove’s (for that is its name now) entry on Discover Ireland’s web page states: “The Grove Bar’s food menu features such favourites as toasted sandwiches, homemade soup, lasagna, salads and a selection of delicious desserts”, plus ca change…except for the soup, lasagna, salads and dessert.
