Sergeant Thomas Plunkett, “Don’t let (the Flag) Fall Boys”

May 19, 2018 by Administrator

Thomas Plunkett was born in County Mayo in 1840. His parents emigrated to the United States in 1844 and settled in West Boylston, Massachusetts. When the American Civil War broke out, young Plunkett was working in a local shoe factory. Immediately answering the call of his adopted country, Plunkett enlisted in Company E of the 21^st Massachusetts as a private. As a member of the 21^st, Plunkett took part in some of the fiercest fighting of the war: Second Bull Run, Chantilly, and Antietam. However the 21^st and now Sergeant Plunkett would face its greatest test at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862,

The misjudgments and mismanagement that led to the disaster which was the Battle of Fredericksburg are too numerous to detail in the space of this article. Suffice it to say that after taking over command of the Army of the Potomac from Major General McClellan who had been sacked for lack of aggressiveness, newly appointed commander Major General Ambrose Burnside went to the opposite extreme and devised a bold but complicated plan that soon came apart at the seams. The result was that the men of the 21^st Mass found themselves on December 13, 1862 at the base of a hill overlooking the town of Fredericksburg known as Marye’s Heights. Though it was well known that the Confederates had days to fortify the position, Burnside fearing the political consequences to his career if he should withdraw, ordered wave after wave of Union troops forward only to break on the strong Confederate positions. It soon became the 21^st Massachusetts turn.

The men of the 21^st marched out onto the open plain below the heights where they formed their line, shivering in the cold as they had discarded the grey overcoats they had been issued less they be confused for Confederates. Before they even moved off, artillery fire from Marye’s Heights rained down upon them; solid shot claiming the head of an unfortunate private. It was a sign of what was to come as the 21^stnow began its grim advance toward the Confederate position.

Sergeant Plunkett had taken the position as a file closer behind the ranks to help maintain the unit formation and prevent straggling. Despite the unit moving at double time up the hill, the well-sited enemy artillery was taking a gruesome toll. The 21st Color Sergeant carrying the National Colors was shot and fell dead; the regiment’s Stars and Stripes falling to the ground. Plunkett immediately threw away his rifle and rushed forward to grab the flag. He began to carry it forward as bullets tore into its silk and nearly shattered the flagstaff in his hand; another ball tore through Plunkett’s cap, yet still he went on.

The fire was too heavy for Plunkett’s luck to last. As he neared the stone wall which defined the Confederate position, an artillery shell exploded directly in front of him. Three men surrounding him were killed instantly. Fragments of the shell nearly severed Plunkett’s right arm at the shoulder. Another fragment struck him in the chest, but glanced off a book that he was carrying in his waistcoat pocket saving his life but leaving an imprint on his chest that would be visible for the rest of his life. Another piece of shrapnel removed his left hand.

Amazingly, Sergeant Plunkett still stood standing. Planting his foot at the flag staff’s base and cradling the staff in the remnants of his arms

Flag of the 21st Mass still bearing the stains of Sergeant Plunkett’s blood

he screamed “Don’t let if fall boys! Don’t let it fall!”. Only when another member of the 21st took the colors from him did Plunkett permit himself to collapse to the ground. He would later remarkably stagger back to the Federal lines where both of his arms were amputated. Plunkett was tended during his recovery by another resident of Massachusetts, Clara Barton, who would go on to found the American Red Cross. Barton later recorded that when shown the flag that Plunkett had been carrying his blood “literally obliterated the stripes”. The 21st Mass. would lose a third of its strength that day at Fredericksburg.

After a lengthy convalescence, Thomas Plunkett was discharged from the Army on 9th March, 1864. He was awarded a full pension and the Medal of Honor on 30th March, 1866. He went on to marry and have two children, and would spend 15 years as a messenger in the State House at Boston where the bloodstained flag that he carried so nobly that December day still survives.

Sergeant Thomas Plunkett is one of 257 recipients of the Medal of Honor who list “Ireland” as their place of birth, more than the rest of the Foreign-born recipients combined. He lived at a time when many claimed that the Irish could never be true Americans or loyal to her flag. Thomas Plunkett proved those bigots wrong on both counts. In his memory we should be as steadfast in protecting and preserving our heritage as he was in protecting our flag.

The Irish Marines

March 17, 2018 by Administrator

When this year’s Rockland County St. Patrick’s Day Parade proceeds down Central Avenue in Pearl River, it will be led by Marine Corps veteran Francis T. Duffy. Frank was awarded the Silver Star for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” in a battle where Admiral Nimitz noted that “Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue” indicates the high bar that Frank’s courage met on that day. Because of his actions, he would also be awarded the Purple Heart and spend a year in hospital recovering from wounds he sustained in defending his country and fellow Marines.

While their flag may be red and gold and their uniform blue, there is a long green strand that runs throughout the history of the United States Marines. When France gave the United States and Captain John Paul Jones the ship that would be known as the “Bonhomme Richard”, they also provided a unit of Marines drawn for the “Regiment de Walsh-Serrant”, part of the famed Irish Brigade of France composed of Irish exiles and their sons. The Irish Marines were in the “fighting tops” of the “Bonhomme Richard” when it had its notable encounter with HMS Serapis, the battle where Jones refused to surrender stating he had “not yet begun to fight”. Yet the

the battle was won not by Jones on the deck, but by one of his Irish Marines crawling out to the edge of a mast to drop a grenade into the Serapis’ hold that won the day.

In the United States first international military encounter, the Barbary War against Algerian pirates who were capturing U.S. Merchant vessel and enslaving their crews, the U.S. Marines who fought on “the shores of Tripoli” under the command of Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon. Leading a detachment of seven Marines and two Navy Midshipmen, at the Battle of Derna, O’Bannon and his Marines “pass’d through a shower of Musketry from the Walls of houses”, took possession of an artillery battery and turned it on the defenders. O’Bannon would become the first to raise the American flag on foreign soil after combat. In recognition of his bravery, the Pasha of Tripoli presented O’Bannon a Mameluke sword as a token of respect; Marine officers have been wearing one ever since.

Danial Joseph Daly was a small man at only 5’ 6”, but would be described by General Smedley D. Butler, himself a Marine legend, as “The fightinest Marine I ever knew.” Daly was awarded the Medal of Honor during the Boxer Rebellion where he single-handedly held a position against an overwhelming assault by hundreds of the enemy. Fifteen years later as a Gunnery Sergeant, Daly and his men were in Haiti when they were ambushed.

Daly braved enemy fire to retrieve a machine gun that was still strapped to a mule that had been killed, thereby saving his men and was awarded a second Medal of Honor. Ironically it is for neither of these incidents for which he is most famous. In WW I, Gunnery Sergeant Daly and his men were pinned by artillery and machine-gun fire near Belleau Wood. Realize that to stay in this position was certain death, the now 44-year-old Daly stood up out and with a battle cry that has begun legend said: “Come on, you sons of *******, do you want to live forever?!” Daly personally eliminated a machine gun nest with nothing more than his pistol and grenades, being wounded three times in the process. He was recommended for a third Medal of Honor, but a Washington bureaucratic denied it solely on the basis that he already had two.

In WW II, fighting alongside Frank Duffy on Iwo Jima was Captain Joseph Jeremiah McCarthy who earned the Medal of Honor. After the war he would travel the country visiting the families of each of his men who had fallen where he personally assured the families that their loved ones were just as brave as he was, he was just lucky. In Korea 28 Irish immigrants would be killed fighting for their adopted country including Pfc. John Patrick White, born in Caherdaniel, County Kerry. That the Korean War has earned the nickname “The forgotten war” is an outrage, that America forgot these men for half a century to grant these men who died wearing her uniform before granting them citizenship a scandal.

Robert Emmett O’Malley and Thomas Patrick Noonan were born within five months of each other in the historically Irish enclave of Woodside, Queens. The two-attended school and church together and were close friends throughout childhood. They both joined the Marines, and both earned the Medal of Honor, Noonan making the supreme sacrifice. Sgt Liam Anthony Flynn emigrated to New York from Clane Co Kildare in 2002 and joined the US Marine s in 2006. He served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan before being killed in a training accident as part of Special Forces command.

The noted columnist Walter Winchell observed, “You can’t strike the American Flag without some Irishman hitting you back”. Invariably, the first punch landed against America’s enemies is thrown by the Marines. Both the Marines and the Irish share a well-deserved reputation for being “Always Faithful”

The Sheas, Three Generations of Winter Olympics Greatness

January 14, 2018 by Neil F. Cosgrove

Since the ancient past, societies have honored athletes. Athletic competition may have developed out of pragmatic concerns such as training warriors, but it was soon realized that certain individuals were gifted with exceptional talents. In the Ancient Olympic Games winning competitors were awarded Olive Wreaths and honored as human incarnations of Apollo; in modern times they are honored with some of the highest salaries in the world. These honors are given in recognition of how exceptional athletic prowess is in on one individual; what then would be the likelihood of finding word class athleticism in three different sports in three generations of one family? One would be forgiven if they were to say it was impossible if they did not know of the Sheas.

Double Gold Medalist Jack Shea at the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid

The Shea family traces their roots to Irish immigrants who came to America during the height of the great hunger. The Shea’s story in America begins with Michael Shea who came to the United States in 1847. He came from the area of the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry and married fellow Irish immigrant Mary Courtney. His grandson Jack Shea was born September 7, 1910 in Lake Placid, NY. At age 3 Jack started skating at a nearby lake; by the time he was in high school he had won the North American men’s championship. As if by preordination, while a sophomore at Dartmouth the 1932 Winter Olympics were held in his hometown of Lack Placid. So well regarded was Shea by his fellow athletes that he was selected to take the Olympic Oath on their behalf in the opening ceremony. On the first day of competition, he won the gold medal in the 500-meter speed skating event. The next day, he followed up by winning the 1,500 meters; making him the first double gold medalist in Winter Olympic history. He returned to Dartmouth to a thunderous welcome (and humorless professors who held him accountable for the classes he missed).

Jack Shea graduated 10^th in his class from Dartmouth, but the Great Depression and the needs of his family cut short his dreams of becoming a lawyer; a regret he carried throughout his life. When it was announced that the 1936 games were to be held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Jack Shea refused to skate to defend his title; as a political science major, he was well aware of what was developing in Nazi Germany. Shea urged his fellow athletes publicly and privately to not support the games in Germany. Jack proceeded to a respected career in local government in his hometown and was instrumental in bringing the games back to Lake Placid for the memorable 1980 Winter Olympics; the site of the “Miracle on Ice”. Shea would continue to skate recreationally unit he was 84.

Jack’s son, Jim Shea Sr. wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as speed skater, but his talents turned out to be in cross-country skiing. He was a member of the 1961 NCAA champion University of Denver team, and made the 1964 U.S. Winter Olympic team where he competed in Nordic Combined skiing and two cross-country ski events. While he did not medal, he did go on to coach the U.S. biathlon team in the 1972 Winter Olympics.

Jack Shea’s grandson Jim Jr. took another path to the Winter Olympics by competing in Skeleton, an event where competitors ride a sled similar to a child’s “flexible flyer” down a bobsled run attaining speeds of over 80 mph and pulling 5 G’s in the turns. In 1999 Jim Jr. became the first American to win the skeleton World Championships. Skeleton had been an Olympic sport in two prior Olympics but had not been competed in 54 years. Jim Shea persuaded the U.S. Olympic Committee to make skeleton an event at the 2002 Winter Games (it has been competed ever since)

At the time of the 2002 games, 91 year-old Jack Shea was now the oldest living Gold Medal Winter Olympian. All seemed in place for a

Gold medal winnerJim Shea of the United States celebrates with the fans after the Men’s Skeleton competition at the Utah Olympic Park on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002.

fairytale ending. As it made its way to Salt Lake City, 91 year old Jack Shea carried the Olympic Torch into the same Lake Placid stadium where he had won dual gold two generations before. His grandson was selected to take the Olympic Oath as his Grandfather had done seventy years earlier and the three generations of Olympic Sheas were to be honored during the opening ceremonies.

However, it was not to be. Seventeen days before the games, Jack Shea was killed just blocks from his home, when his car was hit by a van whose driver was later charged with driving while intoxicated.

With his grandfather’s funeral card tucked inside his helmet, Jim Shea won the gold medal in skeleton. After the competition an emotional Jim Shea describing his winning run told reporters “My grandpa was with me the whole way“.

The story of the Shea’s is about more than medals, it is a story of determination, principle and, most importantly, family. It is in its essence a story of Irish America.

Note: In the same 2002 Skeleton competition where Jim Shea won the Gold, Ireland’s Clifton Wrottesley missed winning Ireland’s first Winter Olympic medal by 0.32 seconds. It remains Ireland’s highest placing in the Winter Games

Neil F. Cosgrove, Historian

A Christmas Candle in the Window

December 9, 2017 by Administrator

We have all seen the beautiful tradition of placing candles in the windows at Christmas time. This tradition of placing candles in the windows of homes during the Christmas season was brought to America by Irish immigrants in the 19th century. However, beyond mere decoration as Irish Americans these Christmas candles have a special significance. They reflect the fortitude and conviction of our Irish forebears to maintain the light of their faith through a dark and oppressive time.

Starting in the reign of the Tudors and continuing through the early part of the 19th century, it was a crime to be a Catholic in the British realm and specifically in her colony of Ireland. A series of laws, know to history as the Penal law, sought to reduce the Irish people to ignorant serfs and destroy their religious faith. The 1709 Penal Act demanded that Catholic priests take the Oath of Abjuration; an impossible requirement as it meant rejecting Catholicism most basic tenet, that Christ is physically present in the Eucharist, and other fundamental principles. Even if they paid lip service to the oath, all priests were required to register in their parish and could not travel beyond. Bishops were barred entirely from registering and any unregistered member of the Catholic clergy had to leave Ireland immediately. Without Bishops, it would be impossible to consecrate new priests; the goal was that Catholicism would die out within a generation.

Priests were hunted like wolves, the reward for the capture of a Bishop was from £50–100 and £10–20 for the capture of an unregistered priest; tremendous sums of money at the time. The priest himself would be charges with high treason punishable by death or transportation into slavery. Those who aided or harbored a priest faced equally severe punishment to themselves and families.

However the Irish will and faith could not be crushed so easily, no matter how powerful the despot. Priests remained in Ireland ministering to the faithful while constantly fearing capture and aided by courageous members of the laity. This was especially true during the feast of Christmas; were the hope and promise of the Holiday was desperately needed to give encouragement to the faithful to preserve during those dark times.

The practice arose for a member of the faithful to leave a candle in the window, which in the dark winter nights of Ireland before electric lighting could be seen at a considerable distance, and to leave the door unlocked as a sign to any priest hiding in the area that they would be welcomed and given shelter in the hopes of a Christmas mass. Needless to say, the candles also drew the attention of English authorities. However, when questioned, people would say the candle was to light the way to Bethlehem for Mary and Joseph and the door unlocked as a sign that while there may be “no room at the Inn”, the Holy Family would be welcomed in this house. The story had the desired effect, English authorities in their arrogance dismissed the candles and unlocked doors as harmless “Papish nonsense”. As a result, the light of the promise of Christ at Christmas was celebrated even in a world dark with oppression.

While the Penal Laws have been repealed, there are still forces today who would seek to destroy our faith and have us renounce our Irish heritage. In memory of our ancestor and to celebrate their courage, let us put a candle in the window at Christmas and let our faith and pride in our heritage shine out throughout the year.

Andrew Higgins, the Irish American ‘Noah’ of WW II

November 17, 2017 by Neil F. Cosgrove

“The Jaws of Death.” A photo by CPHOM Robert F. Sargent, USCG. A Coast Guard-manned LCVP from the USS Samuel Chase disembarks troops of Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division on the morning of June 6, 1944, at Omaha Beach

It is an iconic image of WW II, a photo taken on June 6, 1944 showing American soldiers exiting a landing craft coming ashore at Omaha beach. A few months later on October 20th, another photo captured the moment General Douglas MacArthur “returned” to the Philippines, wading ashore from a landing craft. Neither of these historic moments would have been possible without one man, as overlooked but essential as the landing craft in these images that bore his name, Andrew Higgins.

Though in later life Higgins would be inseparably identified with New Orleans, he was born in Columbus, Nebraska in 1886. Losing his father when he was but seven years old, Higgins would claim he received his determination and strong will from his mother whose ancestors had come from Ireland after the failed rebellion of 1848. Higgins demonstrated the industry and innovation that were to be his hallmarks at an early age. At the age of nine and with only a sickle he began a grass cutting business. He soon purchased a lawn mower, eventually expanding until he had seventeen mowers and was hiring older boys to do the work while he managed the business. An incurable builder, the young Higgins constructed an iceboat in the basement of his home for use on the nearby lakes. When finished, he realized it was too big to be taken out of the basement doors. With characteristic determination, he borrowed jacks from a nearby construction site and with friends removed a section of the basement’s wall, got the boat out and restored the wall, all while his mother was out shopping. Perhaps not unexpectedly, such creativity, determination and strong will often brought young Higgins into conflict with school authorities resulting in him being expelled before graduating.

Higgins moved to the south where he began working in the lumber industry. His interest in boats was again rekindled when he was confronted with the problem of how to access timber from shallow, obstacle choked bayous. Higgins took a correspondence course in naval architecture and soon designed the first of the flat-bottomed shallow draft boats which would make him famous. The key feature was that the propeller was incorporated in a recessed tunnel that protected the propeller from grounding and fouling.

In the late 1930’s Higgins owned a small shipyard in New Orleans servicing the need of loggers and oil drillers in the Mississippi Delta. The

growing threat of war soon drew the interest of the Marines in Higgins’ boats as the Navy Bureau of Ships had consistently failed to produce craft that could effectively deliver Marines, their tanks and artillery on a beach. Marine General Holland “Howlin’ Mad” Smith had seen trials of Higgins shallow draft “Eureka” boat could be “an answer to the Marine prayer”. The one concern was that as configured the Marines would need to disembark the boat going over the side, slowing their exit when they were most vulnerable. At his own expense, Higgin’s modified the boats by cutting off the bow and replacing it with a ramp. Higgins received a call that the Navy that they and the Marines would be coming to New Orleans to test the ramped boats and Higgins should also prepare to discuss a design for a craft capable of landing tanks. Higgins informed the Navy that instead of a plan he would have a workable craft. “It can’t be done,” the Navy told him; “The Hell it can’t,” replied Higgins, “you just be here in three days”. Higgins had the boat built in 61 hours. Both would be taken into service, and while the ramped “Eureka” would have the official designation of LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) it would be known universally as the Higgins Boat.

Higgin’s answer to the “Marine prayer” came just in time as the United States would soon enter WW II. With his tireless energy, often working 16 hour days, Higgins seemingly overnight turned his small 50 man New Orleans boat building business into one of the largest boat builders in the world, building not only several models of landing craft but other boats as well. By September 1943, 12,964 of the American Navy’s 14,072 vessels had been designed by Higgins Industries. Hitler bitterly called Higgins “The new Noah”. A fact that should not be overlooked is that to achieve this prodigious output Higgins employed anyone capable of performing the job, irrespective of gender or race, and everyone who performed the same job was given the same pay. Higgins was one of our nation’s first equal opportunity employers. Realizing the impact a worker lost due to sickness could have on productivity, Higgins established a company clinic where works could access health care free of charge.

Unfortunately, wartime gratitude is a fleeting thing. When the war ended, the drive and determination which had enabled Higgins to deliver what his country needed came back to haunt him as the toes he stepped on to get the job done now took their revenge. Maverick innovators like Higgins were out of place in the conformist world of post-war corporate America. Despite an indisputable record of being an advocate for his workers, his firms were crippled by post-war strikes. Higgins died in New Orleans on 1 August 1952.

Andrew Jackson Higgins was like the boat that bore his name: straightforward, tough and reliable. Neither was sophisticated, they just got the job done. He deserves to be remembered much more than he is. As General Eisenhower noted, “Andrew Higgins … is the man who won the war for us. … If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.”

Neil F. Cosgrove, Historian