Dan Callanan reports the following  Good and Welfare News…Please say a prayer for the repose of the souls Kevin Donohue’s aunt Anita Colby, Scott Hanson’s father George, Denis Troy’s mom Catherine, Bill Cosgrove’s brother Michael, and Charlie Murphy’s brother Tom.  A couple of prayers are in order for John Draper, Sr. who is undergoing treatment for an infected colon and his bride Diane who received a few stitches as a result of a fall, Dermot Moore’s mom Mary (in Helen Hayes) and Brendan Moore’s wife Eileen (at home) are recovering well after hip replacements, and some really good news proving your prayers are working well is that Bob Farrelly has been declared c-free and has permanently relocated to Florida.  Frank McDonagh reports that his bride Mary is doing quite well after her chemo and radiation treatments.  We had a really nice response to our request last month for additional volunteers to help with Larry McKeever’s rehab but we could use more volunteers to cover during the upcoming vacation season.  The sessions begin at 9 am and last less than an hour and you choose your preferred day of the week. If you are able to help, please contact Dan Callanan at 845-735-6108.

As always, please remember in your prayers our wounded warriors and their families.

Yours in Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity,

Dermot O’Connor Moore, President

The post President’s Message May 2013 appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Kerry born Corporal Patrick Sheahan, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Killed in Action while serving in the United States Army during the Korean War.

The conflict in Korea has been called “The Forgotten War.” The conflict lies buried in the shadows of the global magnitude and populism of World War II and the media scrutiny and violent class of ideologies that defined Vietnam. Even the then Commander-in-Chief President Truman appeared to trivialize the conflict by referring to it as a “policing action”, yet to those Americans actually called to serve it was one of the most brutal wars fought in one of the most inhospitable environments known to man. It is tragically too often a passing footnote in history courses and forgotten by most Americans.

That the sacrifices of the Korean War are too often overlooked is a grave disservice to all the brave Americans who answered when their country called. However, if there can be a greater injustice it would have to be among “the forgotten soldiers of the forgotten war.” That was the case of 28 Irish American immigrants who fought and died defending their adopted country.

These young men had come to America as had previous generations of Irish Americans in search of freedom and opportunity, and like previous Irish immigrants when America called them to serve they answered unhesitatingly. Yet, their devotion did not influence the immigration process; when they returned from defending the United States they still had to wait the mandated five years before becoming eligible to apply for citizenship. As one surviving Irish American Korean War veteran noted he had been given an Army commendation for capturing an enemy spy in Korea, but on his return to America he could not get a job at the Post Office. The irony of someone serving the United States loyally in the military and still not being able to claim citizenship was addressed by Congress in 1953 after the war ended, but the law was not retroactive leaving hundreds of returning foreign born veterans of the Korean War still waiting to apply for citizenship, but worse still leaving 28 Irish Americans who had been killed during the war in the paradox of not being recognized as citizens of the country they had died fighting for.

Among them was Corporal Patrick Sheahan of County Kerry. On the 8th of June, 1951, his unit was advancing up Hill 786 when they came under heavy machine gun fire. Seeing two men fall wounded Sheahan, without regard to his own safety, carried them one at a time under enemy fire to a place of cover. Sheahan stayed with the wounded men while another soldier went to locate aid. At this point a large group of enemy soldiers assaulted his position, but Sheahan stayed with his wounded comrades and held off the enemy until the rest of his platoon could break through. For this action Sheahan was awarded the Bronze Star. Four Months later, while attacking another hill, Sheahan’s unit would once again be pinned by enemy machine gun fire and once again Corporal Sheahan would risk all for his fellow soldiers. Crawling forward under heavy machine gun fire, Sheahan reached the gun emplacement and silenced it with grenades. Unsure whether all the enemy had been eliminated Sheahan rushed forward to the trench where he deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire so that he could fire a long burst into the trench and ensure the enemy was eliminated. It was at this time that Sheehan was killed by a second and previously unknown enemy gun position. For his heroism and supreme sacrifice Sheahan was awarded the Silver Star, but still was not recognized as an American.

There are other stories of Irish immigrants that are equally as heroic. Private John Corcoran of County Cork was killed when he shielded with his own body a previously wounded comrade when his unit came under attack by enemy mortars. Private William Murphy, also of Cork, was captured by the Chinese and suffered a long and brutal march to internment in North Korea. In order to survive, Pvt. Murphy would offer to trade his wrist watch wrapped in a cloth to local villagers for food. Apparently Murphy was skilled at sleight of hand for after Murphy and the other prisoners were marched off, the profiteering villager would unwrap the cloth to find not a watch but a rock. Using this trick Murphy kept himself and his fellow soldiers alive along the pitiless march to the prisoner of war camp where he would later die in the subhuman conditions. One of the soldiers who had benefited from Murphy’s conjuring trick was able to hide the watch that had kept them alive before the guards could steal it. It would take that soldier fifty years, but he eventually found Pvt. Murphy’s family in Ireland and returned the watch to them.

For fifty years the memory of these faithful 28 Irish immigrants was lost in a maze of contradictions. They had worn the uniform of the United States honorably and often heroically, but they were not recognized as Americans. They had earned our nation’s highest awards, but could not earn citizenship. Not everyone had forgotten them and their sacrifice. After a long struggle led by John Leahy, himself an Irish immigrant Korean War veteran, and supported by The Ancient Order of Hibernians, these 28 Irish immigrants were awarded posthumous citizenship and a memorial dedicated to their memory and service at Green-Wood Ceremony on the 14th of October, 2003.

While justice was delayed, let it never be denied, and may we as Irish Americans never forget.

Neil F.  Cosgrove, Historian

Note: In a sad footnote, there is an ongoing effort to have Corporal Patrick Sheahan’s heroism and sacrifice recognized by being Awarded the Medal of Honor. Many feel he would have received it upon review if it had not been for his Irish Immigrant status. Unfortunately, the bureaucracy is making Corporal Sheahan wait again, the National Archives claiming they have lost his records. Let us pray it won’t be too long before another recipient of our Nation’s highest honor who listed his birthplace as “Ireland” is added to the 253 already there.

The post Lest We Forget: the Forgotten Irish American Soldiers of the Forgotten War appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

This symposium event feature a keynote speech by Senator George Mitchell who was one of the key players in creating this landmark agreement. In addition to Senator Mitchell, the event will also feature expert speakers and panelists, including members of Congress, and others who have supported the peace process.

For more information, contact Sean Pender, NJ AOH President and AOH National FFAI Chair via phone at 609 462 7056 or email at paddyspeed@yahoo.com or Dan Dennehy, NYS FFAI Chair via email at dandennehy@hotmail.com

Admission is free, but seating is limited to 900. Tickets will be issued for seat reservations. Seating is limited, so please only make reservations if you are sure that you can attend.
Click Here To Reserve Your Tickets

Date/Time: Thursday, May 23, 2013 6:00PM to 9:00PM
Place: Cooper Union Great Hall/ The Foundation Building
Seven E 7th St between 3rd and 4th ave
New York, NY

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The post GAA Poker Night April 26th appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

• 12:00 pm Shotgun start (10:30am Registration)
• Big Prize Putting Contest
• Long Drive
• Closest to the Pin
• Closest to the Line
• Great Raffle Prizes and much more…

Sponsors are welcomed.   All proceeds to Benefit the Division Charities.   Reception 5pm-8pm at Emmett’s Castle.  Cost is  $140 per player, $60 for dinner only.

Contact: Sean Walsh for more info at div3golfouting@optimum.net or by phone at 845.201.8384.

The post 2013 Annual AOH Division 3 Golf Outing, May 16th. appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The Hibernian House Board

The post Hibernian House News April 2013 appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The Easter Rebellion which had begun with the noble reading the proclamation of the Irish Republic by Padraig Pearse on the steps of the General Post Office (GPO), had descended into brutal urban warfare. After six days of combat, Pearse had ordered surrender as he saw that the battle was increasingly descending into brutality. His decision was confirmed when he saw Robert Dillon, the innocent owner of a pub, attempt to evacuate his wife and daughter from the line of fire under a white flag only to see the three of them cut down by the crown forces.

With the surrender of the rebel forces and the terrible suffering the fighting had inflicted on the city of Dublin, it was a time for wisdom and sound judgment, a time where a spirit of justice could have won a great political victory. Unfortunately, such was not to be found in the British Military Governor, Sir John Maxwell. An unimaginative man whose Army career was in question because of his involvement in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, he seemed driven to redeem himself in the eyes of his political masters in taking a tough line with the rebels. He decided that the rebels would be tried in secret military courts-martial in violation of the very “Defense of the Realm Act” under which they were being prosecuted.  The defendants would have no legal representation. It was a system rife with injustice and between May 3rd and 12th, 1916, fourteen men were executed, including all seven signers of the Proclamation. At times the sham nature of the “trials” became glaringly apparent. If William Pearse had been allowed legal counsel and a proper defense it would be clear that he had no major role in the rising, but rather he was convicted for the crime of being Padraig Pearse’s brother.  When Eamonn Ceannt asked to call Thomas MacDonagh as a witness he was told that Thomas MacDonagh was not available as a witness as he had been shot that morning.

The harshness and injustice of Maxwell’s drum head courts soon turned the hearts and minds of the Irish people. While the rebellion may not have initially had the support of the vast majority of the people, the fight that the volunteers had made against the overwhelming odds of the then greatest empire in the world had won their respect.  Even the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith stated before the House of Commons,

“So far as the great body of insurgents is concerned I have no hesitation in saying in public that they conducted themselves with humanity which contrasted very much to their advantage with some of the so-called civilized enemies with which we are fighting in Europe…They fought very bravely and did not resort to outrage.”

Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s comments could not be applied to his own forces. During the height of the rebellion, a Capt. Bowen-Colthurst, invalided home from service on the Western Front, went to the British Barracks at Portobello. He found a well-known local character, Francis Sheehy- Skeffington being detained under suspicion of being a rebel sympathizer. Sheehy- Skeffington was a socialist, a supporter of women’s suffrage and a pacifist.  He had been attempting to organize a citizens committee to stop looting when a commotion had resulted and he had been mistakenly lifted as the instigator. Capt. Bowen-Colthurst ordered Sheehy-Skeffington’s hands bound and then he took him as a human shield on a “raid to look for Fenians.”   They came across a 17 year old boy who was leaving Mass, Capt. Bowen-Colthurst ordered one of his men to strike him knocking him to the ground and then Bowen-Colthurst shot and killed  him.  Bowen-Colthurst then led his men to the shop of a local Dublin Alderman whom he claimed was a rebel (the man was actually a conservative loyalist) and destroyed the building with grenades.  He shot another man on sight and “captured” two pro-British Journalists. The next day he had Sheehy- Skeffington and the two journalists shot at Portobello barracks. The Barrack’s Commander, Major Sir Francis Fletcher Vane, a man of moral principle who had been absent from the barracks during Bowen-Colthurst’s rampage, was horrified at what had occurred and  ordered Bowen-Colthurst placed under arrest and informed his superiors. When General Maxwell, who was so diligently prosecuting the leaders of the rebellion, was notified he refused to order Bowen-Colthurst’s arrest. Instead a whitewash commenced literally: Royal Engineers were dispatched to fix the bullet holes in the Barracks courtyard, the bodies ordered buried. However, Major Vane was a man of principle and took his evidence to London and the highest levels of the Military and the Government and pressed the issue till it could no longer be ignored.  Capt. Bowen-Colthurst was tried for murder, but found not guilty by reason of insanity.   He was sent to an asylum for one year and then released receiving a full military pension.  The noble Major Vane’s career was ruined; he was immediately dismissed from the Army, his services no longer required.

There were additional incidents. During the fighting at North Street, men of the East Staffordshire regiment entered civilian homes after the ceasefire and shot 15 men who were non-combatants. The officer commanding refused to attend an official inquiry into the matter, claiming he could find no British military witnesses.  The Coroner’s court ruled that two of the men, found buried in the basement of their home, had “been shot while an unarmed and unoffensive prisoner” and that if the British military had “any inclination” they could produce the men responsible. Unfortunately, the British Military had no such inclination. Instead a sham “identification parade” was held for the families of the murdered men. No one was identified; it would have been remarkable if anyone had been for the suspects had already been transferred to England. The facts of the inquiry were then sealed lest they be used for “hostile propaganda,” only being released some 85 years later in 2001. In the file a notation was made “if the case had occurred in England, the right course would be to refer the case to the Department of Public Prosecution.”

The people of Ireland were quick to note the hypocrisy of Imperial justice.  Those who had days before  jeered the Volunteers when they rose on Easter Monday now saw the nobility of their cause and the oppression they were fighting. Where justice and forbearance were warranted, the crown, through its military governor, delivered rashness and imprudence.  In trying to stamp out the rebellion, General Maxwell fanned its flames and spread it to members of the Irish population that had previously not contemplated independence and for whom now nothing less would be accepted. By allowing the steel fist of England to crush them, the leaders of 1916 ensured Ireland would slip from her grasp. One can wonder how different the outcome of Easter 1916 would have been, and how much future bloodshed could have been saved, if Justice faced outwardly from the seat of British administration and she gazed at the scales of truth and fairness rather than the sword.

Neil F. Cosgrove, Historian

The post After the Easter Rebellion, Justice turned her Back on Ireland appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Our next meeting will be held on Friday, April 19 at 8pm. Welcome aboard to new member Brian McGarity. Congratulations and many thanks to all those who worked so hard to make our St. Patrick’s Day Senior Citizen luncheon such a success, to all those who marched in  St. Patrick’s Day Parades, and to those who worked at the parade in Pearl River, especially rookies Brian Booth, Mike Mulcahy, and Don McKallen who kept the parade moving so well. I received many compliments from those who received such a warm welcome at the Hibernian House. So many thanks go out to the House board.

Good and Welfare News… 

Please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Dan Callanan’s brother Tom, Mike O’Brien’s mom Peggy, Mike Burke’s mom Shiela, Marty Joyce’s bride Mary Ellen, Jim Walsh’s brotherJohn down in Florida, the chairman of the pub Jim “Stretch” Fitzmaurice, and a good friend of the AOH, Kay O’Grady’s husband Sean. Please keep Frank McDonagh’s bride Mary in your prayers as she battles her illness and for Dermot Moore’s mom Mary as she deals with complications from hip surgery at Nyack Hospital. Dan Callanan is looking for volunteers to assist with physical therapy for Larry McKeever. It would be Monday through Friday (your choice of days) from 9am to 10am.  Please give Dan a call at 845-735-6108 if you can help out.  As always, please remember in your prayers our wounded warriors and their families.

Yours in Friendship, Unity & Christian Charity,

Dermot O’Connor Moore, President

The post President’s Message April 2013 appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

On April 20-21, 2013, Fordham Law School will be hosting the Irish Famine Tribunal to examine the responsibility of the British Government, under international law, for the tragic consequences of this period. Was it the case, as John Mitchel famously (or infamously) asserted, that “the Almighty, indeed, sent the potato blight, but the English created the famine”?

The Tribunal will consider whether the British role during the Famine amounted to either genocide or a crime against humanity. Prosecution and defense teams, including law students from Fordham Law School and Dublin City University, will present their cases before an international panel of judges: Judge Fidelma Macken, recently retired from the Supreme Court of Ireland and the first female judge to sit on the European Court of Justice; Judge John Ingram, a renowned New York Supreme Court judge who has presided over many high profile criminal trials; and, Judge William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, chairman of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland Galway, and widely considered the world’s leading authority on genocide.

Joining them will be authors Tim Pat Coogan (“The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy”) and John Kelly (“The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People”), along with historians Dr. Ciarán Ó Murchadha (“The Great Famine: Ireland’s Agony 1845-1852”) and Dr. Ruan O’Donnell, Head of the Department of History at the University of Limerick.

In 1997, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that “[t]hose who governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy.” Does that failure, however, give rise to liability under international criminal law?

Amongst the other questions that will be asked:

• Were the repeated, devastating failures of the potato crop beyond the power of any government, in the context of the time, to effectively manage?
• Was Ireland particularly vulnerable to famine and, if so, why?
• What relief efforts were made?
• How responsive was the government in London to reports from relief officials in Ireland?
• How influential were laissez-faire and providentialist ideologies?
• Did British policy makers take advantage of the Famine to “reform” Irish society?
• Was it only the British government that stood by while Ireland starved?
• What part was played by landlords, merchants, big farmers, shopkeepers and, more generally, the Irish middle classes?

To RSVP please go to http://www.irishfaminetribunal.com
For further information, please email us at info@theirishfaminetribunal.com

or contact Owen Rodgers at (917) 379-0955

The Irish Famine Tribunal will be held at Fordham University Law School,

142 W. 62nd Street, New York City
April 20: 10:00 am and April 21: 11:00 am

The post The Irish Famine Tribunal April 20th and 21st appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.

LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim March 2013 as Irish American Heritage Month in the State of New York

 WHEREAS, From  America’s  earliest  days,  Irish  immigrants  and  their descendants  have contributed leadership, wisdom, and vitality to America, through nine signers of the Declaration of Independence and 22 Presidents with Irish roots as well as the indelible  mark  Irish  Americans have  made  in  the  shaping  of  the  great State and City of New York, through numerous Governors, Legislators, Mayors  and  public  officials; and

 WHEREAS,  Throughout their long history, the Irish have been ardent in their passion for liberty, hatred of oppression and renowned  for  their loyalty  and thus, the Irish have, from the beginning, been prominent in the defense of this Nation, with 20 of George Washington’s generals  and an  estimated  quarter  of  his  Army being composed of Irish Americans, among them Timothy Murphy, a hero of the pivotal battle of Saratoga, New York; and
 WHEREAS, Irish Americans  have  distinguished  themselves  ever  since whenever  their  country  has called on them, as typified in the storied “Fighting 69th” of New York who fought with courage and sacrifice on the  Battlefields of the American Civil War, World War  I  and  whose  Gaelic battle  cry  of  “Faugh an Beallach” is still heard this day in Iraq and

Afghanistan in defense of our country; and 

 WHEREAS, The first  Congressional  Medal  of  Honor  for  the  current conflict  in  Afghanistan was awarded to Navy Seal Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy of Smithtown, New York, who made the supreme  sacrifice  for  his country; and

 WHEREAS, Millions of Irish arrived in New York City in the mid-19^th Century, escaping hunger and injustice in their homeland, and where New York has long been a haven for immigrants, being the home of the “golden door”  of  Ellis  Island, where the first immigrant to enter through its passages to a new life in America was 15 year-old Annie Moore  of  Cork, Ireland; and

WHEREAS,  Irish  immigrants  and their descendants have contributed to the building of this great society not only by the laying  of  railroads and  the  building  of physical bridges, but also by building bridges of the mind amongst all people through the founding  of  numerous  schools, colleges  and universities, enhancing the quality of every phase of life  for all New Yorkers; and

 WHEREAS, Irish American women have a long and proud tradition of being visionaries and trailblazers, whether it be Annie Sullivan, the  teacher of  Helen Keller, crusading journalist Nelly Bly or New York’s own Colonel Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a Space Shuttle; and 

 WHEREAS, Since 1762, Irish New Yorkers have been faithfully celebrating  the feast of St. Patrick every March 17th, wherein they renew their connections to the land of their ancestry, pass on their  traditions  to the  next  generation,  and share their pride through joyous festivities enjoyed by all New Yorkers irrespective of ethnicity; and

 WHEREAS, Irish Americans have made an indelible impression upon  every human endeavor in art, music, literature, science, film, dance, theatre, sports,  education,  law,  finance,  and  politics and shall continue to embellish New York’s shining future, reflecting the noble past  of  this mighty race, with all the strength, resilience, humor and hospitality of the Irish character; it is most fitting to set aside this month to highlight  and  honor the history and heritage of the Irish Americans and to remember and pay tribute to the contributions  they  have  made  to  our  State and our Nation; now, therefore, be it 

 RESOLVED, That is Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to memorialize Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to proclaim March 2013 as Irish American Heritage Month in the State of New York; and be it further

 RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State  of  New York.

The story of Irish Americans and their contribution to their country is a story all Americans should be familiar with. Irish American Heritage month has been proclaimed nationally by presidents of both parties since 1991. Unfortunately, unlike other Heritage Months which are visibly and publicly celebrated, often at tax payer expense, Irish American Heritage Month is often overlooked. It will be continued to be overlooked unless we start demanding fair an equal recognition and representation for the contributions of our community to the fabric of America.

Despite being proclaimed by American Presidents of both parties for over twenty years and numerous congressional resolutions, man of our public institutions ignore the contributions of the Irish to the story of America.   The Smithsonian Institution, “America’s National Education Facility”, has programs for Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian-Pacific Islander Month and Native American Heritage Month, but continues to fail to heed our President’s yearly call for “all Americans to observe this month by celebrating the contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

 We ask that our members and their family members send a letter to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian asking that this prominent taxpayer funded institution recognize the heritage of Irish Americans with comparable exhibits to the other heritages that the Smithsonian currently celebrates annually.  The Chancellor of the Board of Regents is Chief Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court, certainly a man we should be able to appreciate an appeal to fairness and justice.  The address and a suggested letter can be found here. 

The post March is Irish American Heritage Month appeared first on Pearl River Ancient Order of Hibernians.