Dundalk native calling on the people of Louth to join Jadotville challenge for Defence Force veterans
Reporter:
Patrick.flaherty@iconicnews.ie
L to R Neil O Malley, Frank Larrigan, Ollie O Connor CEO of ONE and Pat Donnelly );
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A Louth native has organised a charity event which hopes to raise awareness around one of the Irish Military’s most forgotten battles while in the process raising funds for Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann, the Organization of National Ex-Serviceman.
The Jadotville Challenge will see hundreds of volunteers either cycle, walk or run a combined distance of 24,000km over five days from 29th June to the 3rd July 2021 in aid of homeless veterans of the Defence Forces.
LMFM By Marc O Driscoll The Jadotville Challenge will mark the 60th anniversary of the events in the Congo and aims to raise money for the ONE.
Hundreds of volunteers are to cycle, walk or run a combined distance of 24,000 kilometres over the course of five days in aid of homeless veterans of the Irish Defence Forces.
The Organisation of National Ex-Service Personnel (ONE) has launched the Jadotville Challenge to mark the 60th anniversary of the siege and raise funds for the charity.
The Siege of Jadotville occurred in September 1961 when a contingent of Irish troops came under attack by Katangese forces during a peacekeeping mission in the Congo.
LMFM By Marc O Driscoll
A person has been arrested following a road traffic collision in Dundalk.
It s understood a driver crashed his car into the garden fence of a property on the Point Road, near Aiken Barracks on Saturday at approximately 8.30am.
The man in his 20s has since been charged in relation to the incident and is expected to appear before the courts later this month.
No one was injured during the collision.
A Garda spokespersons said: As a person has been charged no further information is available at this time.
Aged 82, Gerry from Pearse Park died peacefully in the Lourdes Hospital on February 9th.
A talented soccer player in his youth, Gerry played minor and junior football before progressing to play with Dundalk where he was involved in their title winning season in 1962-63.
It was the Local Defence Forces, known as the LDF, and later the FCA (Forsa Cosanta Aitiui) to which Gerry dedicated much of his adult life.
He followed his father into the organisation and rose through the ranks to become Commandant A Coy 8th Battalion that served in this area.
Tributes were paid this week to Gerry s leadership of the Battalion, his dedication and his concern for the welfare of all who served under him.
MEL CORRY lost his battle with Covid-19 at the age of just 56, after two weeks in Craigavon Area Hospital. He received the very best of care from hospital staff and was in awe of their efforts, but together they were unable to overcome the devastating effects of the virus.
Mel was known to most as a Lurgan man, though he originally hailed from neighbouring Portadown, another starkly divided town that formed part of the “murder triangle” of counties Armagh and Tyrone.
In 1972, the worst year of the Troubles, the Corry family relocated to nearby Craigavon, a mixed settlement newly established by the Stormont regime.