TRIBUTE TO HERO OF CONGO AFTER 58 YRS
Memorial for Irish soldier is unveiled
Sergeant Hugh “Sonny” Gaynor was just 27 when he was ambushed by Baluba tribesmen in the former Belgian Congo in August 1960.
A bronze plaque to his memory and eight comrades killed in the same attack was unveiled in his home town of Blanchardstown, North Dublin.
Sonny’s only surviving daughter Sara Tallon travelled from Donegal for the ceremony close to where he grew up.
Sonny enlisted in the Army in the early 1950s and later moved to Leixlip, Co Kildare, with his wife and family.
In a letter home sent on August 30, 1960, he described the gruelling journey in searing temperatures as he flew in darkness to North Africa and landed in Tripoli, Libya.
I think the sacrifice of the men has been largely forgotten SARA TALLON HUGH GAYNOR’S DAUGHTER
He wrote: “The heat was unbearable, especially in our bull’s wool uniforms. It’s a beautiful place but it’s not like home.”
On November 8, the platoon was patrolling in Un-marked vehicles and were ambushed as they inspected a bridge over the River Luweyeye, 13 miles from the village of Niemba.
Their bodies were brought home for burial in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
The mission, Operation Sarsfield, marked one of Ireland’s first forays into peace-keeping and the Niemba Ambush made international headlines along with the Siege of Jadotville.
Sara, 61, said she is touched that her father is being honoured in the town where he was born and reared on the 60th anniversary of the first Irish UN peace-keeping mission.
She added: “When you go to Glasnevin you hear a lot about Michael Collins but there’s nothing about the UN plot. I think their sacrifice has largely been forgotten about and this will help keep his memory alive. This is where he grew up, he went to school in the village.
“He was both a city boy and a country boy.”
He didn’t just keep the peace in Africa. Sara revealed: “My father and his colleagues came across an abandoned village. They found a little girl with polio who had been left behind.
“They brought her to a convent and paid the nuns to take care of her. Even though they were there to make a few bob for themselves and their families they handed over their money to save her life. It may not have been on a grand scale but that’s the real meaning of humanitarianism.”
Just three years old when Hugh died, Sara has memories of spending time with him.
She revealed: “I have great memories of being with my father in the shed. He was mad into motorbikes but he hadn’t the money to buy a bike.
“With every pay packet he’d buy a part. I sat in the shed as he put the bike together. I remember sowing sweet pea at the fence with him – to this day I sow sweet pea in his memory.”
Retired Air Corps pilot Frank Russell campaigned for a memorial. He said: “I was always aware that there was no formal recognition in Blanchardstown of Sgt Gaynor and his death while on UN peace-keeping duties. This belated recognition of a very brave man and his comrades will now be put right.”
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