A RETIRED Irish soldier who survived an ambush in the Congo almost 50 years ago in which eight of his peacekeeping colleagues were killed has resolved his High Court action over a 2006 report prepared for the Minister for Defence into the events.
Tom Kenny, with an address in Ballyfermot, Dublin, who with Joe Fitzpatrick survived the ambush at Niemba on November 8th, 1960, has for many years claimed his good name was impugned because of the Army’s allegedly incorrect history of the incident, which occurred when he was just 18.
Arising from these complaints, the Minister for Defence asked the Army to revisit the matter and, following an investigation of several months by Col Thomas Behan, a report was presented to the Minister in November 2006. As a result, Minister Willie O’Dea apologised to Mr Kenny and Mr Fitzpatrick over certain references made to them in the initial Army investigation. But Mr Kenny objected to a reference to him in the 2006 report concerning his accounts of the ambush. He also brought defamation proceedings.
Under terms of settlement agreed between the sides, the reference complained of is to be withdrawn. Mr Justice John Hedigan said it was clear to him Mr Kenny and his comrades in Niemba continue to be held in the highest esteem by this country as a result of this tragic affair. The judge said he remembered the events vividly as a young boy as he attended the funerals of “these heroic soldiers”. Mr Kenny was a colleague of heroic soldiers who, he believed, were the first peacekeepers to lose their lives for world peace. “They are all due the highest credit. They are a credit to their country.”
The judge also noted a recommendation in the November 2006 report was that Mr Kenny receive official recognition that he survived a horrific encounter with hostile forces and had displayed courage, fortitude and tenacity in order to survive until rescued. That was the highest praise one can imagine for somebody who went through what Mr Kenny and his colleagues experienced.
Outside court, Mr Kenny said: “They said I was suffering in my mind that I could not live with the idea of thinking that somebody died to save my life. That has been withdrawn now because it wasn’t true. Nobody died to save my life.”