Tag Archives: irish army

Happy St. Patrick’s Day: Irish Blue Berets

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Ireland as we know it declared itself a republic in 1948 after more than two decades as the Irish Free State– with much of that still as a British Dominion.

The country joined the UN in 1955 and since 1958 the Irish Army has maintained a continuous presence in peacekeeping missions around the world, something of an accomplishment when you consider the force typically numbers fewer than 8,000 regulars.

Irish Defence Forces personnel boarding a US Globemaster transport aircraft for the Congo in the early 1960s armed with the Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk 2, Bren and Swedish Carl Gustaf m/45 SMGs.

This has included service in the Congo (where the famed Siege of Jadotville occurred), Cyprus, the Sinai, Lebanon, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, Liberia (7 battalions on rotation from 2003-07), Chad and Syria.

The force has suffered 85 killed on UNPROFOR missions, including 46 in Lebanon and 26 in the Congo.

St. Patrick surely weeps

Portrait Goals

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Lieutenant General Hugo MacNeill Hugo McNeill irish army uniform

Here we see the very dour Maj. General Hugo MacNeill of the Irish Army about 1923. Note the red staff pips on his collar and the Irish national harp insignia on his jacket buttons.

MacNeill was reportedly a bit of a scrapper and was the Irish Army’s cloak and dagger man.

As a teen he was a member of the Fianna Éireann, a sort of pre-IRA boy scouts before the IRA existed. This of course led to his service in the the Irish Volunteers (Óglaigh na hÉireann) which naturally morphed into the IRA proper after 1919. However, upon independence from the UK in 1922, he cast his lot with Michael Collins and the pro-Treaty National Army of the Irish Free State, becoming a Colonel in the regulars tasked with intelligence missions. He was then assistant Chief of Staff (as a Maj. Gen) after the Civil War, when this image was likely taken.

He remained at that grade through WWII, during which he commanded a division of the Irish Army during the island’s tense neutrality against all comers, founding an indigenous commando school and apparently was very chummy with both the Germans and the Brits during the conflict, as befitting a neutral.

He retired in the 1950s as a Lt. General and helped form the Irish equivalent of the American Legion for former servicemen.

More excellent photos of MacNeill here.