#OnThisDay 1940 Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk ended. 2 Royal Ulster Rifles had the unenviable task of perimeter defence while the evacuation took place. They lost nearly 200 men. Roughly 338,000 troops got off the beach.
#OnThisDay 1861 The 6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment mustered 916 men into 10 companies for Confederate Service. This unit was predominantly comprised of Irishmen from New Orleans. Joseph Hanlon was elected Lieutenant Colonel. By war’s end they’d 373 men left.
#OnThisDay 1798 United Irishmen rebels defeat a Crown force at the Battle of Tubberneering, near Gorey. Lt-Col Walpole led his 400 Crown troops into a narrow pass where he & 100 of his men were killed. They fled the scene leaving three cannon & a cache of arms.
#OnThisDay 1968 First Lieutenant Anthony O’Reilly, born in Galway, was killed in action in Vietnam. Leading his platoon against the Viet Cong, he singlehandedly took out a heavy weapons bunker with grenades. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (PH).
#OnThisDay 1921 Tipperary IRA ambushed a RIC column at Modreeny killing 4 and injuring 14. Though realising he was outmatched & outgunned, Seán Gaynor, IRA commander was anxious to test his men & so attacked. One of the RIC dead was James Briggs DCM & MM (pic).
The Irish at War 