During the Vietnam War, a soldier wounded on the battlefield had a better chance of survival than if he had been injured as a civilian in a car crash back home in the states. This remarkable statistic is due to the courage and dedication of the pilots and crews of the aeromedical helicopter evacuation unit, radio call sign “Dust Off”.  A four man crew of a pilot, copilot, medic … [Read more...] about Major Patrick Brady, “Faith Under Fire”

Kevin Gerard Barry was born on January 20, 1902 at 8 Fleet Street Dublin, the fourth of seven children.  He spent several years of his childhood in County Carlow when his mother returned to her family’s home with her children upon the death of Barry’s father when Barry was just six years old.  Barry returned to Dublin to attend Belvedere College, where he was a member of their … [Read more...] about Kevin Barry

That any country should have in its history an event known by the sorrowful name of “Bloody Sunday” is tragic.  That a country should have in the space of 59 years, less than an average lifetime,  three events called “Bloody Sunday” is truly horrific.  Yet, in each of these adversities the strength and resiliency of the Irish people has been proven.  The third and best known … [Read more...] about The First Bloody Sunday: Jim Larkin and the Dublin Lockout 1913

On July 2, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg was entering it’s pivotal second day. The Confederates were pushing on both flanks of the Union Line. An unauthorized advance by Union General Sickles exposed a salient in the Federal line which the Confederates were quick to seize upon. One of the areas of fiercest fighting has come down to history as “the Wheat Field”. Union Commander … [Read more...] about On The 150th Anniversay of Gettysburg, Some Overlooked History

The year 2013 marks the Two Hundred and Fifteenth anniversary of one of the watershed moments in the Irish struggle for freedom: the rebellion of 1798.  The extension of some of the penal laws in the early 1700’s to include Presbyterians in addition to Catholics in an attempt to suppress any religion but that of the state sponsored English Anglican Church had led both groups to … [Read more...] about Fr. Murphy of Boolavogue