|
Post by andybrennan on Dec 28, 2009 21:02:35 GMT
Kell far asI know those records are available Newbridge Library, if Doyler not around.
Regards to kelly and rest of your family for New Year
andy
|
|
|
Post by andybrennan on Dec 28, 2009 21:35:59 GMT
Joey
or who ever reads this tell me how to do the follwing
when 10 messages appear all before it are not onscreen. how do I access what was there prior to the latest 10 messages, oh and keep it simple
andy
|
|
|
Post by kellquinn on Dec 29, 2009 17:05:10 GMT
Hi Andy Try scrolling downwards, placing the cursor on the Scroll bar on the right hand side of the screen and keeping the left side of the mouse pressed down, the scroll bar is the Grey bar on the right hand side. you can go up and down the page using this method. Hope this works. I hope I read your question correctly. It's a pity that I cannot use the print screen method in this forum to show exactly how it is done step by step. If I misread the question try using the page jump method at the bottom and top of the screen. Regards JoeyK
|
|
|
Post by andybrennan on Dec 29, 2009 21:11:50 GMT
Joey how goes it,
tis not that you are mis reading my query tis more likely I did not explain it better here goes
as you look at the screen there are 10 enteries which put the prior10 to the back ground now how do I view the ten that have went before these ten I have no probs scrolling or using jump facility,
I can find what is prior to what appears on screen but it is a long slog backwards through all messages hope this is a little more clear to you and you get the gist of my query as I have lost my self
andy
|
|
|
Post by kellquinn on Dec 29, 2009 21:16:45 GMT
Cripes Andy You have me at a loss, would probably have to be sitting with you to see exactly what you are talking about. Regards Joey
|
|
|
Post by andybrennan on Dec 29, 2009 21:43:31 GMT
Cripes back Joey, not to worry pal I will stay with the long route and dont be puffing to many o them cigars andy
|
|
|
Post by Matt McNamara on Jan 28, 2010 20:22:54 GMT
You will recall that one of the victims of the Cullenstown Tragedy was an Sgt James Curran of the Army Corps of Engineers. One of Sgt Curran’s grandson has kindly provided some information about Sgt Curran, which will be of interest to all history buffs.
James Curran was a native of New Ross, County Wexford. James joined the Royal Irish Regiment in Waterford in 1912 when he was 16 years of age. The ‘old’ Royal Irish Regiment, which he joined, was one of the oldest regiments in the British Army and should not be confused with the present recently created regiment of the same name. The Regiment’s recruitment area at that time was County’s Waterford, Tipperary, Cork and Wexford.
At some point in time before the Great War James transferred into the Royal Field Artillery. The RFA units stationed in Waterford in 1914 were 24th, 34th, and 72nd Battery’s of the XXXVIII Brigade of the 6th Division. It is not known what guns they were equipped with. The RFA also had Battery’s stationed in Clonmel, Newbridge, Kildare and Athlone in 1914. James may have served in any of these locations. At various times James served in either the Royal Field Artillery or the Royal Garrison Artillery until he was de-mobbed after the war.
James went to France with his unit when war began in 1914 and in 1915 while serving there sustained a gunshot wound to the neck from which he recovered. He then served in Salonica in Greece where he was wounded by shellfire, this time in one arm. Again he recovered. At some time when he was been treated for the first or second wound he met and married the widow of a fallen soldier who had been nursing him.
She was the former Mary Waters of Athlone. In 1915 Mary Waters had met and married an Edward Sharpe of London who was serving in the British Army and was stationed in Athlone at that time. His rank and unit are not known. The possibility exists that Edward Sharpe may have been serving in the Royal Field Artillery as some units of that regiment were stationed in Athlone. Edward Sharpe and Mary Waters were married in St Mary’s Catholic Church in Athlone in February 1915. Edward Sharpe was killed in France shortly after. The date, place of his death and burial site has not yet been established.
James Curran and Mary Waters Sharpe were married in St Mary’s in Athlone in July 1917. James and Mary had three children aged 17, 14 and 12 at the time of his death. James Curran was discharged from the British Army in 1919. Upon discharge his rank was ‘Gunner’ and he was listed as of ‘Exemplary Conduct’. After the war James worked as a chemists assistant.
In July 1922 James joined the new Irish Free State Army in Athlone. He was posted to 2nd Brigade, 8th Battalion, ‘A’ Company before being promoted. He also served in the 5th Infantry Battalion and the Recruit Training Depot before finally being posted to the Corps of Engineers in May 1932 and was serving in the 1st Field Company at the time of his tragic death on this day January 27th 1941.
William Tinsley
|
|
|
Post by Matt McNamara on Jan 28, 2010 20:30:35 GMT
Mr. Norton asked the Minister for Defence whether he is aware that a pension of 16/4 per week was awarded to Mrs. Mary Curran, widow of R/679 Sergeant James Curran, Corps of Engineers, who lost his life in the Cullenstown mine disaster in January, 1941; and that this small pension is insufficient to provide for the maintenance of Mrs. Curran and her child; and whether, having regard to the fact that the late Sergeant Curran rendered approximately 19 years' service in the Army, and lost his life under such distressing circumstances, he will authorise a substantial increase in the pension at present paid to Mrs. Curran.
Mr. Traynor: Mrs. Mary Curran, widow of the late R/679 Sergeant James Curran, was granted an allowance of 12/6 per week in respect of herself and an allowance of 4/- per week in respect of each of her two children, John Henry and Kathleen Frances, under Section 15 of the Army Pensions Act, 1927. The allowance in respect of the child, John Henry, ceased on the 16th February last on his attaining the age of 18. The allowances at present payable to Mrs. Curran and her child, Kathleen Frances, are the maximum permissible under the Act and, in the circumstances, it is not possible to grant any increase in the allowances.
Mr. Norton: In view of the fact that this unfortunate woman has to pay 6/- per week rent and is, therefore, left with a sum of only 10/- with which to provide fuel, clothing and food, and having regard to the fact that her husband served in the Army for approximately 20 years and met his death in such distressing circumstances in the mine disaster referred to, will the Minister consider recommending to the Government that in this case and any such cases, which are particularly poignant, special consideration should be given to the circumstances of the unfortunate living victims of such disasters?
Mr. Traynor: Of course nothing can be done under the present Act which is, I think, about 15 years old. I understand that this lady did not apply for a widow's pension, and we believe that she would be entitled to secure a contributory pension if she were to apply. I think that possibility should be explored. Mr. Norton: Assuming that that is not possible, and the lady does not think that it is, would the Minister consider sympathetically the question of making some additional provision for the dependents of persons who lose their lives in such circumstances? The Minister realises, of course, that the whole country heard with horror of the appalling disaster at Cullenstown, when this man lost his life. Would the Minister consider expressing some measure of the nation's gratitude to the men who lost their lives by increasing the allowances paid in such circumstances?
Mr. Traynor: As I mentioned in the reply, the lady is getting the maximum amount allowed under the Act. It is my function to see that she gets whatever she is entitled to. Beyond that I can do nothing except to amend an Act that is now 15 years old. That is the only thing I can do, and I do not see that that is possible at the moment.
William Tinsley
|
|
|
Post by andybrennan on Jan 28, 2010 20:51:00 GMT
Matt,
Interesting reading, but things have not changed, all decisions by the rule book afraid to set a precedence for the pension as they did not know where it would snowball too,
Andy
|
|
|
Post by morcurran on Mar 25, 2010 14:31:49 GMT
Attached is a photo of Ballyteigue Burrow (Cullenstown Strand) directly across from the old Coastguard building and is possibly the explosion site. Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by morcurran on Mar 25, 2010 14:41:03 GMT
Some more photos of Cullenstown Strand showing the lane from the Coastguard building and Ballyteigue Burrow. Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by Matt McNamara on May 18, 2010 16:51:41 GMT
An account of the incident by Joseph Drislane who was Orderly Officer in Wexford Barracks at the time.
In 1940 I was working as a bank official in Kildare town. On 2 July I enlisted in the Army for the duration of the Emergency as a Private soldier in response to the big recruiting drive at that time. I was just short of 24 years of age and was attached initially to No. 2 Company of the 21st Rifle Battalion in Kent Barracks on the Curragh. Within a few weeks I was selected for a potential officers’ training course at the Command Training and Mobilisation Depot at Connolly Barracks. After a further course in the Military College I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and posted to B Company of the 16th Infantry Battalion in Kilkenny as a Platoon Commander.
Early in December 1940 my platoon took over a hotel at Curracloe, Co. Wexford, from the 10th Battalion. A lot of war planes, both German and British, used to pass over the south-east coast, and I had to phone Air Defence on the Curragh and report details of each one. We also had a lot of mines coming ashore on the beaches and these were highly dangerous. We would go out and place a guard on them to keep people away until Army Engineers could come and blow them up.
Mines didn’t come in daily but they were quite a frequent occurrence. I remember going out to one myself , above Curracloe, with another officer. We would have received a report about it from civilians. We cycled out to the beach and I remember seeing the mine swirling around in the surf. The usual thing was to warn people living nearby to stay away from it and to leave their windows open in case it exploded. I think that particular mine did actually explode. Occasionally a mine went off by itself while it was churning around in the surf before anyone had a chance to come and blow it up.
In January 1941 I was transferred to Wexford Barracks which was headquarters for the Platoon in Curracloe and another Platoon in Rosslare Harbour. In the Barracks we had two Infantry Platoons, a detachment of Cavalry (a Lieutenant, a Sergeant and two armoured cars) and a detachment of Engineers (a Lieutenant, a sergeant and I don’t know how many men).
I wouldn’t have been very familiar with the Engineers because they didn’t belong to our Battalion. I do remember Lieut. Horgan, the officer in charge of them. Some time in January 1941, before the accident at Cullenstown, I was detailed to lead a party of 15-20 men from my Platoon out to the village of Oilgate, about eight miles north of Wexford town, where bombs were reported to have fallen. There were big craters in the fields where the bombs had landed and exploded, but there was one bomb I reckoned hadn’t exploded judging by the shape of the crater in very soft ground. When I got back to the Barracks I reported this to the Engineers. Horgan went out with some of his men and confirmed to me later that it was an unexploded bomb. They blew it up. There were roughly 10 bombs in all at Oilgate, but fortunately they all fell on open ground and did no damage. I had to write up a report on it. The extraordinary thing was that there was never a report of that incident in any newspaper I saw at the time.
On January 27, I was Orderly Officer in Wexford Barracks when the report came in of the mine at Cullenstown beach. I can’t remember who received the report. As I said there was nothing very unusual about a mine coming in, although I think it was probably the first time I’d actually seen the Engineers going out. I remember exchanging a few words with Sgt Curran as he was getting ready to leave with Lieut. Horgan and the men – I couldn’t say how many men there were, there were a few of them. I didn’t know where they were going, only that it was to attend to a mine. They probably wouldn’t have known themselves exactly where the mine was. Usually you had only a rough report of where a mine or a bomb was and you asked local people when you got to the area.
I’m almost certain I heard the explosion from the Barracks that day. I can remember a sort of boom. My recollection is that it was in the late afternoon.This would not have occasioned any unease as we would have assumed it had been detonated by the Engineers. I don’t remember how we were notified about the accident but we were told there had been casualties and were ordered to prepare a place for the bodies to be brought.
I got a phone call from a senior officer at Curragh Command HQ telling me to get the names of those killed. I got this information as quickly as I could and phoned it through to him. I might have got the names from some of the Engineering personnel left in the Barracks, although I don’t recall exactly.
There was an empty billet inside the Barracks gate on the left hand side as you came in. Beds were set up there, ready to receive the bodies. There was an Army doctor based in the Barracks with presumably some medical personnel and they may have been involved in setting up the billet.. The bodies were brought in by Army ambulance late that night - around midnight, I think. I remember the ambulance driver was young and he was very upset, naturally, and agitated. There were no relatives or civilians there at the time.
I don’t have any recollection of the bodies being removed from the Barracks. As Orderly Officer, you were on duty for 24 hours at a time and the normal procedure was that you rested the next day. I would have knocked off at about nine o’clock in the morning, so I probably wasn’t on duty when the bodies were removed later. I don’t really know when they were removed.
Early in February 1941 – only a week or two after the accident – I was sent on a Quarter Master’s course to Clarke Barracks on the Curragh. I see from the newspaper cutting given to me by Brian McCarney that the inquest into the deaths took place in Wexford Barracks on 12 February 1941. I have no recollection of an inquest at the Barracks, so I am pretty certain I must have been gone from Wexford by that date. After completing the course which lasted about six weeks I returned to B Company headquarters in Kilkenny Barracks and was subsequently transferred as Quarter Master to the Marine and Coasthingyching Service in Waterford Barracks. In early June 1942 I returned to B Company as a Platoon Commander. We were stationed in Portlaoise (or Maryborough as it was known then) but returned to Kilkenny Barracks that month to rejoin the rest of the Battalion. I spent the rest of my service with the 16th.
I remained in the Army until February 1945, when the threat of invasion was clearly passed, and was released that month on indefinite leave. I resumed my banking career in March 1945 and was finally discharged from the Army on 31 October 1946.
I have not been back to Wexford Barracks since leaving in February 1941. Until 8 April this year (2010) I had not been back to the Curragh camp for almost 70 years. It was an extraordinary coincidence that on the afternoon I revisited it with my wife and daughter I should have met Brian McCarney there searching for connections to the Cullenstown tragedy.
Joseph Drislane Dublin 16 April 2010
|
|
|
Post by tommysweeney1 on May 18, 2010 20:23:31 GMT
Hey Matt,
Great insight from Joseph,
Enjoyed reading it, great he got back to have a look at the camp such as it is now, alot different than he remembered I bet. I don't think Wexford barracks has changed all that much.
Tommy S
|
|
|
Post by annemcnamara on May 18, 2010 23:12:05 GMT
Hi Matt, thanks for that great story brilliantly told by Joseph Drislane long may his memory serve him they don't make them like him anymore. Regards Anne.
|
|
|
Post by Matt McNamara on May 27, 2010 6:41:43 GMT
Hi Yall's,
Greetings from Georgia, I have at last heard from the Army a little of the arrangements for the unveiling of the memorial. The commemorative service will commence at 6.00 p.m. on Monday 21st of June in the Garrison Church. I have requested that both the RC and C of I Army Chaplains be present. The unveiling will take place immediately after in the Garden of Remembrance which is opposite the Church. This will be followed a light refreshment in Ceannt Dining Complex. All three venues are within easy walking distance. I will keep yea all posted as I learn more.
Best regards, Bill
|
|