Faith and service – Larry looks back on life well-lived

Larry Poynton’s first taste of army life ended a lot earlier than he hoped. A native of Delvin, the then 16-year-old Larry lied about his date of birth when he joined the Defence Forces in 1952. He was almost three months into his training when his father Matt, a WWI veteran, “pulled” him out, on account of his age.

The young Larry obviously made an impression because when he reached the legal age to join the following year, he was welcomed back.

“When I joined in 52, the sergeant who was taking me in, said, ‘Are there any more guys in the village like you?’. I think I was good material for it,” Larry told the Westmeath Examiner.

It’s not hard to see why the sergeant thought that Larry had the right stuff for an army career. Like many young men and women of his generation, he was accustomed to hard work, both on and off the family farm in Williamstown.

“I earned my Confirmation suit at 12 years of age, milking a cow for the teacher.

“I got a pound a month and at the end of 12 months, I went in and bought my Confirmation suit.”

Larry’s second go as a soldier lasted a lot longer and was more successful than his first. After rejoining in 1953, he served his country at home and abroad for 43 years and rose to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major. He spent the majority of his service at Columb Barracks.

A talented sportsman in his youth, Larry (88) played hurling with Delvin and Turin. He was also selected for the Westmeath minor hurling team. When his playing days ended, he trained St Brigid’s to their first senior hurling championship in 1968.

Larry jokes that he “probably owes an apology” to some of the men he hurled against.

“I think I am due a few apologies, as well (laughs). The first time I played hurling for Turin I was 15 and it took me three weeks to get out of bed properly. We were playing Brownstown.

“I returned after a few years in the army and we played them again, and I paid them back.”

He also took up field sports, such as the discus, javelin and shot put, and over the years won a number of all-Army and all-Ireland titles

On one memorable day in 1969, he won four different titles (hammer, discus, javelin and shot putt) at the Command Championships. He also won a discus competition involving soldiers from eight countries, while he served as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.

Larry’s physical prowess served him well in his early days of the army, a time he has fond memories of.

“I was well looked after. Michael Maher was the sergeant major in the barracks. He was like a father to me. There were great men who took me under their wing, like Jim Synott, a Wexford man, who was a CS at the time. He’d march us up to the church and we’d say the Rosary. They were taking over from our parents to keep us civilised.

“It was tough. Pay was small and conditions were bad, but I enjoyed it. I met the right people, who took me under their wing; men like Colonel Jim Pendergast and Colonel Padraig Farrell.”

Jim, who married the love of his life Nuala in 1955, spent a good chunk of army career as a physical training instructor.

“I trained recruits for around 30 odd years. They had a nickname on me, they called me The Rock. I was fairly fit at the time.”

When asked about his leadership style, Larry said that it boiled down to one thing. “I never asked anyone to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself. The guide to being a good sergeant major or instructor is the three Fs: Be fair, be firm, be friendly.”

While his father never talked about his time in the British Army (more below), Larry believes that hearing his neighbours, such as William Callan, talk about fighting in WWI, may have “put the army in my head”.

Over the last five decades, another two generations of the Poynton family have followed Larry and his father into army life.

Larry’s eldest son Mick was the first to follow his father in to the army. He served three years before moving to England for work.

Next to join the family business, so to speak, was his son Matt, who sadly passed away in 2011. Matt served in the army for 10 years. That included two trips to Lebanon, the first of which overlapped for a short period with Larry’s own tour of duty in the country.

His youngest, Paddy, served for 31 years and retired as the company sergeant of the 7th Battalion. Paddy completed 11 tours of duty in the likes of Eritrea, Lebanon and Liberia.

Paul (Paddy’s son) and Noelly (the son of Larry’s son Noel, who passed away in July) are the latest generation of Poyntons to choose a life in the military. Paul joined the army 12 years ago and has served two tours of duty abroad, while Noel has 18 years of service, including six tours of duty. A sergeant, he is currently serving in the chief of staff’s office.

Paddy’s wife Lorraine Poynton Bracken was also a member of the Defence Forces and during her 21 years of service, she went on four UN tours of duty.

Larry is understandably proud of his family’s long history of military service. “We have a total of 138 years between us and 30 UN missions,” he said.

Of Larry’s almost 43 years in the army, seven and a half were spent abroad on UN peacekeeping missions, on border duty during The Troubles, or on training courses.

His first UN mission was in The Congo in 1962, followed by a number of missions in Cyprus (’64, ’65, ’66 and ’70) and the Lebanon in 1979.

The tour of duty in Lebanon, in particular, was memorable, but not for the right reasons.

“On September 6, 1979, we were relieved of all duties in Lebanon for a full 24 hours to receive our UNIFIL medals. Of course, there were a few pints and glasses of brandy.

“The next day I went back and I had no bed. The bed was blown up.

“That’ll tell you what it was like in Lebanon. If you see a row in a pub, you don’t ever go in between them. The two of them will turn on you.

“We were the same. You have a crowd fighting with the other crowd and we’re in the middle of the green line. We were trying to survive. I was lucky to come out of that alive. It was hellish.”

That tour of duty took its psychological toll on Larry, who, on his return home, experienced post traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. He developed an alcohol problem, which almost cost him his marriage.

“I came back in 1979, but in 1980, I couldn’t leave a pub. I was in a terrible state.”

With the prompting of the local parish priest, Fr Troy, Larry got help with his drinking. He took his mind off his troubles by taking up fishing, one of his favourite pastimes as a youngster. Within a short period of time, he was fishing for Ireland in international competitions.

Larry saves that taking up fishing “saved his life” and possibly his marriage.

“It’s a disease [alcoholism], just like gambling, and there are a lot of young people affected by them.”

Larry believes that he wasn’t the first member of his family to suffer from PTSD.

“My father was affected by fighting in the war [WWI]. He drank a lot to kill the pain. The only time we’d have a horror story at home was during Lent when he gave up drink, which was customary at the time. The roars of him in the house at night when he couldn’t sleep. He was a great man though, a strong minded man.”

Larry inherited the family farm in Williamstown when his father died in January 1972, less than a month after his wife of 54 years, Larry’s mother Margaret, passed.

Larry and his wife Nuala moved back to his home place and raised their family of five sons (Michael, Matt, Patrick, Damien and Noel) and three daughters (Margaret, Jacqueline, Nuala).

“The house was built by the Land Commission in 1922, so it is 102 years there. It was a wonderful place to live. I was born there in 1936. The food was real organic food back then. We grew our own vegetables and killed our own meat. I think that my mother was a magician – she could turn a dinner cooked over an open fire into something good.

“I passed it [the farm] on to Damien my second youngest son, he’s running it now. My grandson Dean has built a house there too, so there will be Poyntons there for a while.”

Sadly, over the last two decades Larry has buried three of his children: Margaret, Matt and Noel. His eldest, Margaret died in her sleep in 2005. A post-mortem revealed that she had a genetic heart condition.

Six years later in September 2011, his son Matt also died of a heart attack.

“He won the golf competition in Delvin that day and had come home. He was putting the key in the door and fell back on the lawn.”

On July 28 of this year, another of Larry’s sons, Noel, passed away and, again the cause of death was cardiac related.

Larry, who also lost his beloved wife, Nuala, after 57 years of marriage in 2013, says that he feels his loved ones’ absences every day. He often thinks about the many former comrades, “fine men”, who have passed on.

When grief hits, it’s important that you let it out, Larry says. Having a support network is vitally important too and it’s something he doesn’t take for granted.

“It’s hard when you carry out your children. I feel a terrible emptiness at times. I’m human and I have a good cry, at times.

“My friends and neighbours have been a huge support since Noel’s death and I’d like to thank them for everything. I’m also blessed to have my daughters Jacqueline and Nuala living close to me. They keep an eye on me.”

One thing Larry takes solace in is that during her last days he was able to repay Nuala for all of her support and love over their long life together.

“When she died in 2013, her only wish was to die at home. Says I, ‘While there’s blood in my body, I’ll be here’.”

The last 20 years haven’t been easy for Larry and his family, but he says that he manages to keep going thanks to the support of his family and friends. His faith also helps.

“I’ve got a God that loves me and I’ve got a God that forgives me. I think God is about love.”

Larry honoured for Congo UN peacekeeping service

On June 23, Larry was part of a group of Congo veterans presented Certificates of Appreciation at a ceremony in Arbour Hill. This year is the 60th anniversary of Ireland’s withdrawal from participation in the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC).

The certificates were presented by the president of the Irish United Nations Veterans Association, Major General Kieran Brennan (Retd).

The veterans also received letters from the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin, in which he describes Larry and his comrades as “trailblazers”.

“The proud tradition of Ireland’s unbroken service on UN and UN-mandated missions since then can be traced back to your participation in the Congo, and the example you showed which has inspired many others down through the years.”

The best known episode of Ireland’s four years as peacekeepers in the Congo is the Siege of Jadotville in 1961, in which a battalion of 150 Irish soldiers repelled attacks by a 3,000 strong force of Katangese rebels and foreign mercenaries for a week.

Despite their heroics, the soldiers involved in the siege were branded as cowards by some on their return to Ireland. They also had to wait 50 years for any form of recognition from the Defence Forces.

Larry has vivid memories of his time in the Congo and how his comrades who were in Jadotville were mistreated.

“I knew all the fellows who were in Jadotville. They were great soldiers.

“When we landed in the Congo, we were dressed for the Russian front. Our six months were reasonably quiet, but the conditions were bad. Our food was bad. We were on pack rations.

“It’s all right eating bully beef and dog biscuits for a month or two, but six months is hard work.

“We never saw milk. It was powdered milk and powdered potatoes. I think some of it was left over from war. It was in storage and they got rid of it into the UN.

“It was hard going. The were no beds most of the time.

“I remember sleeping in a cow shed and I was talking to a fella said, ‘Jesus, there’s rats there’. He said, ‘They’re not rats, they’re snakes’.

“I couldn’t sleep that night think of those snakes. They’re only the simple things though.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re killed with a bow and arrow or you’re blown up with a shell.”

Larry is proud of Ireland’s distinguished history as peacekeepers in some of the most volatile regions of the planet.

“From a meagre beginning, the Irish became the best peacekeepers in the world. I think that is because of the mothers that rear us. They reared us with a Christian outlook, especially to help children.

“There are only five UN training schools in the world and one of them is in The Curragh, which tells you something.

“The last time I visited it, there were soldiers from 25 armies, some of who were generals, who were learning how to keep the peace from Irish officers.”

Larry also reserves special praise for his wife Nuala and the other army wives, who kept things going when they husbands were overseas. “They are the real heroes,” he says.