#OnThisDay 1944 Rev. Cyril Patrick Crean, MBE waded on shore at Juno Beach at Bernieres-sur-Mers with the 29th Armoured. Crean, from Dublin, had joined the British Army as a Catholic Chaplain in 1941. Crean continued with unit throughout the rest of the war, through France, into Belgium etc. He survived the war & became the curate of the Parish of the Sacred Heart, Donnybrook, Dublin.
In 1955 he was appointed Head Chaplain of the Irish Forces because of his wartime experiences. In 1960 he accompanied the 32nd Battalion of the Irish Army to the Congo, as part of the U.N. Peace Keeping Force. He returned to the Congo with the Irish troops in 1962 for a second tour of duty.
