'You basically had to be dead before you could fire a shot'

There was a “lot of tension” in the Congo during UN peacekeeping missions from 1960 to 1964, according to one local Mullingar veteran.

Christopher Doran from Clonmore served a six-month stint there in 1960 and 1961, tasked with “keeping the peace” in the aftermath of the African nation securing independence from Belgium.

He was one of 13 locals honoured for his service during the Congo crisis at a ceremony put on by the Irish United Nations Veterans Association in the Parish Community Centre in Mullingar on Saturday, July 20.

Mr Doran said memories of his service will stay with him forever.

“Regulations were very strict then, you basically had to be dead before you could fire a shot,” he said.

“A report had to come from New York to allow you to fire a shot - there was a lot of tension.

“At one stage we were stuck in a trench for three nights. I dug in with my mates and the trench was full of water, but we got through it.”

Mr Doran, originally from Offaly but living with his wife in Mullingar for decades, said he lied about his age to get into the Defence Forces.

“I was only 15 years old when I went out there for the first time in ‘61, very young at the time,” he said.

“It was easy to do it then because the army only looked at your height, they didn’t ask for a birth cert or anything like that.

“Years later, when I was retiring after finishing my service and was still pretty young, I thought, ‘Jesus, I could be in trouble here’ when they needed my birth cert to apply for the pension.

“It was eventually sorted out and I got the pension, thank God!”

Tom Gunn was 23 years old when he was sent to Jadotville.

“It was a mining town, one of the richest parts of the world where the uranium used in the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima was mined,” he said.

“[Moise] Tshombe had taken Jadotville, and the rest of Katanga, away from the rest of the Congo because of the wealth there.

“You also had the Russians on one side and the Americans on the other, so it was very tense.”

Mr Gunn and over 150 of his colleagues from A Company came under fire from 3,000 Katangese troops on September 13, which began the infamous Siege of Jadotville.

“We were under fire from machine guns and snipers for five days and nights,” he said.

“The food and water ran out first and then we ran out of ammunition.

“Then they took us as prisoners of war for about a month and treated us badly at the start until the Red Cross came in to try and supervise things.

“But then we were moved to a different location because they thought we would try to escape, and we actually had plans to escape, which I was a part of.

“At one stage, we were brought 180 miles through the jungle to be exchanged back to the UN, but it didn’t happen, and we had to go the whole way back wondering if we would ever make it out.”

Mr Gunn is one of two surviving Jadotville veterans in Mullingar, along with Billy Keane, and said he and his colleagues were not warmly received upon returning to the town at first.

“I was in a bar not long after on a freezing night, December 23, and I ordered a pint,” he said.

“One lad on a stool says to the bartender: ‘I didn’t think ye serve cowards here.’

“That was the attitude towards us from some, but I never replied because I would have been letting him win.”

Peter Creevy said he has mostly fond memories of his stint as a UN peacekeeper in the African country.

“I was there in 1964 for six months, from April to December or so,” he said.

“I was only 17 and was one of the youngest there, but I wasn’t scared one little bit – I loved every moment of it.”

Mr Creevy said he was sad to discover that locals he had befriended were killed after his return to Ireland.

“There were two Africans there I was friendly with who used to do washing for us. Sebastian was one and Lofty was the other. They were two fine lads,” he said.

“I heard afterward that both of them were shot by their own gendarmerie for helping out with us and I was very sad for them.”

Joe Boyce had no fear as a young man in the Congo.

“I was there in 1962, it was great – we were only young lads and didn’t care,” he said.

“I was 18 at the time and I’m 82 now. When you’re young you don’t mind these things, I wasn’t scared at all.

“We were out on patrol most of the time, manning roadblocks and things like that.

“I do remember being shot at but I’m more scared now of crossing the road than I was back then.”