Glen of Imaal Demonstration

Mass in Dun Laoghaire

Here is a video of the Mass in Dun Laoghaire for deceased members of B Coy that I referred to in my post on “Church and State”.

The Colour Party is commanded by Rossa Lyons, with Mick O’Toole as flag officer and Gerry Paley and Noel Lyster as escorts. In the Guard of Honour I can recognise Tom Walsh, Kevin Connolly, Tony Taaffe, Cpl Chernobyl, Paddy Henry, Bernard Swan and Ciaran Giles.

As well as Father Breslin’s somewhat un-orthodox sermon the event was notable for Rossa’s total lack of understanding of the liturgy. He was told that when the consecration arrived he was to give the order to “Present Arms”. “The wha?”, says Rossa. In an attempt to inform him, he is told “when the priest holds up the bread and wine”. Then at the offertory, when the Padre says the  “Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer…”, Rossa gives the order, and proceeds to leave the Guard of Honour at the present for a good ten minutes. At least the bugler had the sense to wait until the ACTUAL consecration before sounding!

 

Operation Glenview

In 1973 “Operation Glenview” was held in The Devil’s Glen, Ashford, Co. Wicklow. The exercise included the use of Panhard armoured personnel carriers, a helicopter and 300 FCA Infantry troops.

Now with added video!

I have gotten my hands on some video taken by Pat Holahan and digitised by Rossa. Age has not been good to it and Youtube compression has degraded it even more. As if some of the activities of the 21 Bn can be degraded even more!

This test is of the train arriving for camp 1987 – it will NOT survive being zoomed to fullscreen but we can still make out some of the personalities involved!

Edit: I have changed the video compressor and other settings and the quality is somewhat better!

 

Easter Parade 1966

Easter Parade 1966 from Bray Railway Station to St Peter’s Cemetery.

L to R Scottie O’Brien, “Drill Purposes” (Dermot) Murphy (Deceased), Liam
Murphy (Deceased),J M Kelly (Whereabouts unknown), John Hynes.

You would know it is A Coy as the party is gildy, military, and as good as
the Regulars.

The FCA in Bray

Sample page

I called into Town Hall Bookshop on the Florence Road in Bray recently and picked up a copy of “Pictorial Memories of Bray – Volume 3”. I had seen on the internet that it contained a section of 23 pages on “The FCA in Bray” and so I decided to have a look. The editor is Henry Cairns and Henry himself was manning the shop when I called in. I made the mistake of first asking for “The Pictorial History of Bray – Volume 3” which is a different publication altogether, but Henry put me right! One collection is produced by Bray Cualann Historical Society, of which ex-21Bn member Jim Scannell is the PRO,  and the other by The Old Bray Society. Henry Cairns is also an ex-member of 21Bn.

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Recollections by Kevin Browne

Recollections by Capt Kevin Browne, Bn Adjutant 21 Inf Bn

Like many before and after me my first formal introduction to the FCA was a visit by two recruiting personnel to my School. It was October 1968 and I had just completed my Intermediate Certificate and moved into 5th Year in St Michael’s CBS, Eblana Avenue, Dun Laoghaire. While I had seen people in Uniforms before at Corpus Christi processions etc I had never thought about the FCA or anything to do with the Army.

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