One of the last remaining soldiers who inspired the Hollywood film The Siege of Jadotville has died. Former Private Robert ‘Bobby’ Bradley was one of the 158 soldiers of A Company 35th Battalion who were deployed to Central Africa in 1961 amid political turmoil in the Congo.
The siege happened during a United Nations intervention in the conflict when a group of Irish soldiers were attacked by Katanganese troops.
Despite a lack of ammunition, the men resisted the assault from 5,000 Katanganese for six days before being forced to surrender.
Led by Comdt Pat Quinlan, not one of the men died during the assault despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered. After their capture, they were held as prisoners of war for a month.
Donald Clarke: What kind of Christmas songs are Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland? Funny you should ask
A Dublin scam: After more than 10 years in New York, nothing like this had ever happened to me
The top 25 women’s sporting moments of the year: top spot revealed with Katie Taylor, Rhasidat Adeleke and Kellie Harrington featuring
Former Tory minister Steve Baker: ‘Ireland has been treated badly by the UK. It’s f**king shaming’
The stand-off was recreated in a 2016 Netflix film starring Irish actor Jamie Dornan.
Mr Bradley, from Killea, Co Donegal died on Friday and will be buried after funeral mass at the Church of Immaculate Conception, Killea at 11am on Monday followed by interment in Newtowncunningham cemetery.
In February, 2018 he was honoured at a special ceremony at Killea Parish Hall hosted by the Irish UN Veterans Association.
From the townland of Garshooey, he was awarded the Jadotville Medal (An Bonn Jadotville) which is inscribed with “cosaint chalma” and “misneach”, which translate as “valiant defence” and “courage”.
In 2016, then Minister with Responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe, marked the 55th anniversary of the Siege by presenting a unit citation to the veterans in recognition of their bravery and heroism. This was the first time such an award was made within the Defence Forces.