#OnThisDay 1691 Following the Treaty of Limerick, Patrick Sarsfield & 19,000 Irish people left Cork to fight in the army of France (and many armies of Europe) in what became known as ‘The Flight of the Wild Geese’. Most were never to see their homeland again.
#OnThisDay 1940 MV Innisfallen was sunk by a German magnetic mine while en route from Liverpool to Dublin, carrying 157 passengers & 63 crew. Four crew were killed by the explosion. Captain Firth though wounded, organised the evacuation, saving 200+ lives.
#OnThisDay 1796 Wolfe Tone, General Hoche & over 14,000 French soldiers attempted to land at Bantry Bay, Cork. 36 of the 43 vessels that set out from France made it there but they couldn’t land due to bad storms. It would have to wait till the summer of 1798.
#OnThisDay 1944 The 101st US Airborne Division were surrounded by the Wehrmacht at Bastogne, Belgium. The 101st was commanded by Irish-American Anthony McAuliffe. Both of Sgt. Joe Toye’s parents were from Ireland & Toye was known for singing Irish songs.
#OnThisDay 1935 Michael O’Meara, the Tipperary born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross passed away in a psychiatric hospital in Perth. O’Meara had suffered a nervous breakdown in November 1918 and was admitted to hospital for the rest of his life.
The Irish at War 