McCourt reveals Jadotville link as Duncan calls for medals

When councillors in Mullingar were asked to back a motion requesting medals for Jadotville troops, little did they know that one member’s father had served there.

After Cllr Andrew Duncan spoke on his proposal, Cllr Julie McCourt said her father had been part of the company caught up in the siege. “The way they were treated was deplorable,” Cllr McCourt said, as she supported Cllr Duncan’s motion at the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad March meeting.

Cllr Duncan said time was running out to honour the men: many were dead, some through suicide; the remaining men are elderly, and if it wasn’t for Declan Power most people would have forgotten the soldiers.

Cllr Duncan said that the actions of the troops were now held up as the example of how to handle a siege, and what happened at Jadotville is taught in military colleges around the world, including West Point in the USA, though the men had been derided when they returned from the Congo: “They were deemed cowards, which is outrageous,” he said, pointing out that they surrendered five days into the siege only because they had run out of ammunition. Cllr Duncan said that recently, a decision had been made to award a posthumous Distinguished Service Medal to the commanding officer, Commdt Pat Quinlan, but the family refused to accept it unless it is also awarded to other men who served at Jadotville.

“We have a chance to do things right,” he said, adding he knew some of the Jadotville heroes and they were “the very best of people”.

“Time is of the essence to try to do something and do it right; this should not be pushed under the carpet any longer,” he said.

Cllr Duncan said there should be no need for any further “reviews”, and that the word of the late Commdt Quinlan should be heeded: “He had suggested that every one of that company should be awarded medals and he was the man in charge. It’s one of Ireland’s most significant military battles, where 150 men took on 3000 adversaries.”

Cllr Emily Wallace supported the motion and suggested that a “plan of action” be drawn up on how to show recognition of the soldiers, while the view of Cllr Denis Leonard was that it would be wrong of Mullingar not to do something to honour the men’s memory.

Support came also from Cllrs Aoife Davitt, Niall Gaffney and David Jones.

The mayor, Cllr Ken Glynn, said that there had been a sum of money set aside from the council’s discretionary funds in the past to cover the cost of erection of a monument in Mullingar honouring the men. That fund is still there, he said, and the council should look at making the monument happen.

“If there is a fund there to put up a monument, let’s get on with it: let’s not delay,” Cllr Duncan said.

The members agreed that a letter should go to the minister asking that the men receive medals.