Mayo emigrant to US who ended up a much-decorated hero of Vietnam war

Everybody knew him as "Bob", though his real name was Patrick. He was the second-eldest of nine children born to Mary and Peter Gallagher. They lived at Derrintogher, three miles from Ballyhaunis in Co Mayo. His mother, Mary, still lives there.

When he was 18, Patrick went to his aunts on Long Island in New York. The prospects for a young man in the Ireland of 1962 were limited. There were few jobs, education was expensive and not many could afford to go to secondary school. Patrick had done well at the Vocational School in Ballyhaunis, however.

"A grand type of boy", recalled Mr Padraic Hughes, the principal there, later. "He was a very intelligent boy and passed his Group Certificate with honours." And, at just under six feet, he was also a good footballer. America beckoned. Bright young men could do well there. So Patrick followed in the footsteps of so many others from that part of Ireland.

In the US he got a job in real estate and started at law school. His route was not unlike that of another Mayo man of an earlier generation. The late Paul O'Dwyer, from Bohola, worked in a car-park while he attended law school. He and Patrick had other things in common. Both were interested in politics. Patrick canvassed for Bobby Kennedy, then a senator for New York.

In February 1966 Patrick returned to Ballyhaunis for three weeks. He didn't tell his family then that he had been drafted into the US Marines and would be off to Vietnam on his return to the US. He didn't want to worry them. He went to Vietnam in April and on July 18th, 1966, he saved the lives of three comrades there. Four of them had been manning a defence post at Cam Lo near the border with North Vietnam when it was attacked by Communist forces.

Patrick kicked a grenade out of their position before it exploded and, as the citation for the Navy Cross he was later awarded read, "another enemy grenade followed and landed in the position between two of his comrades. Without hesitation, in a valiant act of self-sacrifice, Corporal Gallagher threw himself upon the deadly grenade in order to absorb the explosion and save the lives of his comrades."

As the three other marines ran to safety two further grenades landed in the position and exploded, "miraculously injuring nobody". Patrick's squad leader ordered him to throw the grenade he was lying on into a nearby river. It exploded on hitting the water.

"Through his extraordinary heroism and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved his comrades from probable injury and possible loss of life," the citation continued. He was awarded the Marines' highest honour, the Navy Cross, and promoted.

"It is a pleasure to pin this on your breast," said Gen Westmoreland, commander of all US forces in Vietnam, at the awards ceremony there. In Washington the military authorities decided to award Patrick the US forces' highest honour, the Congressional Medal of Honour. He would not live to receive it.

His bravery meant Patrick had to tell his family he was in Vietnam. He waited until the very last minute. On January 28th, 1967, he wrote home. He had just heard that day about the award "and that you were likely to be notified. So I thought I would let you know before you read it in the press."

He began the letter: "I hope you won't be too mad at me for the news I got for you. When I was at home last year I had my orders for Vietnam when I went back to the US. I have been in Vietnam since last April (1966) and I will be leaving here in 60 days. Now don't get worried. Everything is going just fine here and I am enjoying it very much."

He continued: "I was afraid you might worry too much so I made my aunt and sister in New York promise they would not tell you I was there. I had planned on not telling you until I got back to the US." He made light of his heroism. "It was not much but they made a big thing of it," he said.

News of this local hero caused great excitement in Ireland. It was all over radio and TV. RTE sent Sean Duignan to interview the family, and in Ballyhaunis great plans were laid for Patrick's homecoming. On the day he was to arrive there they buried him instead.

On March 30th, 1967, he was shot dead while on patrol in Da Nang. He was 23. The American embassy in Dublin contacted Father Rushe, parish priest in Ballyhaunis. He told Patrick's parents following that Sunday's Mass.

The remains were sent back to Ireland in a large casket accompanied by (US Marine) Sgt Gerry Moylan. As the Western People reported on April 22nd, 1967: "The funeral to the new cemetery was one of the largest ever to pass through the town of Ballyhaunis . . . There was a poignant scene as Staff Sergeant Moylan laid a wreath on the grave on behalf of the US forces and then presented the American flag which draped the coffin, the Navy Cross insignia and the citation to Mrs Gallagher, mother of the deceased."

At the graveside were two other mothers who had lost sons in Vietnam "Mr and Mrs Michael Nevin, Brize, Balla, Co Mayo, whose son, Christopher (29), was killed in Vietnam in February, 1966, and Mrs Mary Freyne, Church Street, Ballaghaderreen, whose son Corporal Bernard (Brian Og) Freyne (21) was killed in Vietnam about a month ago."

By then the Gallagher family had already received a letter from Bobby Kennedy. Dated April 10th, he wrote: "Winston Churchill said, `Courage is rightly esteemed as the first of all human qualities because it is the one that guarantees all others'. This courage Corporal Gallagher gave to all of us. To him and to his family are due the thanks of a humbly grateful nation." Within 14 months he, too, would be dead. And from gunshot wounds as well.