Jack Mahony obituary: One of the last Irish veterans of second World War

Jack Mahony

Born: April 3rd, 1918

Died: August 7th, 2018

One of the last Irish second World War veterans, Jack Mahony, who died in August at the age of 100, had the option of avoiding conscription by returning to Ireland from London where he was living with his young family, but he opted instead to enlist after the Germans dropped a bomb on his house.

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A native of Laharn near Faha, outside Killarney, Co Kerry, where he grew up on a small dairy farm, Mahony emigrated to England in 1936. After working for a period with a company doing contract work at the Guinness Brewery at Park Royal, he joined the London Metropolitan Police in 1938.

At the time, those serving with the LMP were exempted for conscription. But shortly after he and his wife, Mary, had their first child, Gerald, Mahony volunteered to join the army following the bombing of their home in Leyton by the Luftwaffe, as he explained to historian Dr Joseph Quinn in 2015.

‘I think there was a need to do what we could, because they bombed my own bloody flat... They were hitting me in my own house... I was aware of the risks but thousands of others had done the same. I could see the picture of what was almost certain to happen... it was something that I had to do.”

Tank driver

Mahony joined the British army on December 3rd, 1942, and, after training in Yorkshire, joined the Royal Armoured Corps as a tank driver and was sent to the south of England, to replace those injured or killed in the D-Day landings.

A few days after D-Day, he was sent over to Normandy where he met a Scottish friend from the LMP on Gold Beach and was assigned to serve with the Scottish regiment 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, which saw action in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Mahony fought with the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders as they liberated Caen before crossing the Seine at Rouen and liberating Le Havre. Twice wounded, he fought in Belgium and Holland where, when moving to support airborne units near Arnhem, he was captured by the Germans at Venlo in autumn 1944.

“For you, the war is over,” he was told by a German officer. He was first held in Fallingbostel prisoner of war camp before being moved to Luckenwalde camp near Berlin. He and other inmates escaped from there when the Russians liberated the camp in April 1945, and they cycled to the Elbe.

Detective

“When we saw the American soldiers [on the other side of the Elbe], we knew we were safe,” said Mahony who, after demobilisation in the UK, rejoined the LMP. He had a distinguished career with them as a detective including several spells with the flying squad until his retirement in 1973.

Retiring with Mary to Ballintotis, near Castlemartyr in east Cork, Mahony remained modest regarding his exploits in the world war but at the age of 97, he was honoured by the French government when they awarded him the Legion of Honour for his role in the liberation of France.

As first counsellor at the French embassy Phillipe Ray said: “Your story, Jack, is a testimony to the courage of all men and women who refuse to give up ... in honouring you, we honour the bravery of all Irish men and women who have stood for liberty, equality and fraternity alongside France.”

Predeceased by his wife, Mary, and son Stephen, Jack Mahony is survived by his son Gerald, daughters-in-law Jacky and Ruth, grandchildren Kirsten, Josh and Arran, and great-grandchildren William and Lewis.