[Published : http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/stage/the-dublin-pals-who-set-off-for-gallipoli-s-killing-fields-1.2093915, Sunday, February 8, 2015] In 1914, sports club members volunteered for ‘Pals’ battalions, and fought in one of the first World War’s bloodiest battles. A new immersive theatrical show remembers their catastrophic story. These days the Gelibolu peninsula on Turkey’s Aegean coast is a quiet place, all gentle hills and pine forests alive with bird ... More

[Published in Irish Times 26 December 2014 - http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/century/irish-priest-s-first-world-war-diary-to-be-published-1.2048909] Kilkenny-born Fr Ned Dowling was sent to Flanders in November 1914 The first World War diary of an Irish Catholic priest has been found during a house clearance in Co Laois. Canon Seán O’Doherty, now the PP in Durrow, Co Laois has authorised the publication of Co Kilkenny-born Fr Ned Dowling’s diary, which covers the ... More

Official statistics, which we now know to be incorrect, show only one Irish-born killed in Vietnam – John Driver, from Ringsend in Dublin. John was something of a unique individual. First in line to inherit the family business, John left poverty-stricken Dublin to find adventure and make his fortune. The adventure he found, like so many before him, in the British Army. Although he saw action in the Far East, after attaining the rank of sergeant he moved on, joining up with Rhodesian fo ... More

A US Army captain and three men with a helicopter launched a rescue mission that ended only when 8 nuns and nearly 200 Vietnamese girls were safe at the Vinh Long airstrip. As the helicopter left with the last load, Vietcong guerillas were swarming through the playground of the Centre of Professional Guidance for Girls, a school conducted by Sisters of the Good Shepherd Order, 60 miles south-west of Saigon. “The helicopter boys should each be given a halo and a pair of wings,” said ... More