Army unit celebrates 75 years of history

It was billed as a celebration, but a 75th anniversary ceremony due to take place in the west next week will be tinged with sadness. Pte Billy Kedian was not the only soldier to leave for the Lebanon never to return to his "home" at Dun Ui Mhaoiliosa barracks in Renmore, overlooking Galway Bay. However, his death in the Lebanon and the life-threatening injuries sustained by his colleague, Pte Ronnie Rushe, a week ago today are a stark reminder of what that calling represents.

Pte Kedian was a peacekeeper, as were four other soldiers with Galway/Mayo connections who lost their lives with UNIFIL - and 40 in total from the Defence Forces. The five will be remembered at Renmore next week when the establishment of An Chead Cathlan Cois, the 1st Battalion, on June 15th, 1924, is marked.

The Mayor of Galway will review a guard of honour in the barracks square; there will be a signing of scrolls and a plaque will be unveiled; and there will be various addresses and a Mass in the garrison church.

An Chead Cath, as it is known for short, has an interesting history, as has the barracks, which predates its establishment. After the Civil War, the government of the day decided to set up an Irish-speaking unit within the Defence Forces at Gough Barracks, now known as McDonagh barracks, in the Curragh, Co Kildare. Ernest Blythe, then Minister for Finance, Gen Richard Mulcahy and Gen Piarais Beaslaoi had a personal interest in the unit's formation.

The unit, which enlisted its recruits mainly from the Gaeltacht areas of Galway, Donegal, Kerry, Cork and Waterford, moved briefly to the Hibernian School in the Phoenix Park and was transferred to Galway in May, 1925. The base had a formidable reputation. It had opened in 1881 as a training depot for the Connaught Rangers, nicknamed the "Devil's Own" for a ferocious charge through city walls during the Peninsular War in April 1812.

As Pte Padraig McDonnell relates in an audio-visual history of Renmore which he has compiled for the anniversary, the barracks were built as a form of relief work after the Famine. Before their construction, from the mid-1870s Galway city had been served by two military posts known as the Castle and the Shambles barracks. When it became evident the posts were no longer suitable, over 70 acres of land was purchased at Renmore, along with Hare Island, in Galway Bay.

The Connaught Rangers were recruited mainly from the western counties, and served throughout the world during their 129-year history. Apart from the Peninsular War, they served in the Egyptian campaign of the late 1790s, the Crimean War in the 1850s, the Zulu War, the Boer War and the first World War. When the Boer War ended in 1902, it was estimated they had "foot-slogged" some 4,470 miles in 2 1/2 years through Natal, Cape Colony, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

The Rangers' casualty rate throughout the first World War was extremely high, even by that conflict's standards. For example, the 5th Battalion landed at Gallipoli in June 1915 with a strength of 1,100, all ranks. On leaving in September that same year, it had only two officers and 134 other ranks fit for duty.

The Rangers are perhaps best known for their mutiny in India in June 1920 in protest against the atrocities carried out by the Black and Tans in Ireland at the time. The mutiny led to the execution of Ranger James Daly from Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath, while 10 others received penal servitude for life and 35 were given lesser prison sentences. All were released in January 1923 and returned to Ireland, where some served with the Army here.

Pte Patrick Donoghue of Ardrahan, Co Galway was the last recruit to join the Rangers. He enlisted on December 15th, 1921; six months later, they left for Dover, and the regiment's colours were finally laid up at Windsor Castle on June 12th, 1922.

In February of that year, the Galway battalion of the IRA took over the military and police installations in the city. Cmdt Sean Turke marched an advance party of 30 to Renmore, saluted the English officers as they departed, and raised the Tricolour. Several years later, An Chead Chath moved in.

The barracks were damaged during the War of Independence and the Civil War, and were only fully restored in 1936. In 1952 they were renamed Dun Ui Mhaoiliosa, in honour of the 1916 leader Liam Mellows. In 1960, members of the 1st Battalion departed for the Congo, and troops from there have served in every overseas unit since.

Among them was Pte Kevin Joyce from the Aran Islands, who is still reported as missing in action after his observation post came under attack near Deir Ntar in south Lebanon on March 27th, 1981, and Cpl Fintan Heneghan, who was killed in a landmine explosion near the village of Brashit on March 21st, 1989. Two others from Galway who were killed had indirect Renmore connections.

In 1980, Pte Stephen Griffin was killed in the Lebanon; his sister, Catherine, works in the barracks. In August 1986, Lieut Aengus Murphy from Tuam was killed in a bomb explosion outside At-Tiri.

His father is a recently retired Army officer and his brother, Capt Conal Murphy, is based at Renmore.