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Irish Dominate Foreign Born Medal of Honor List

  • 05-11-2009 04:16PM
    #1
    DublinDes
    Closed Accounts Posts: 259 ✭✭


    The medal of Honour ( also known as the Congressional Medal of Honor ). Thirty-three countries are listed as birthplaces as the winners of medal. And Ireland is the country with the largest number of medal winners — by far — with 258. Germany/Prussia is second with 128 recipients. The site also says that five of the 19 who won a second Medal of Honor were born in Ireland and three Irish Americans ( good pedigree ;):) ).


    http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/mdohhome.html


Comments

  • #2
    minidazzler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,650 ✭✭✭✭minidazzler


    I'm just gonna say, it's not surprizing the Cork lads top the list either :D


  • #3
    Manic Moran
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,833 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manic Moran


    The medal of Honour ( also (incorrectly )known as the Congressional Medal of Honor ).

    Fixed.


  • #4
    Local-womanizer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,798 ✭✭✭Local-womanizer


    Cant kill a good Donegal man either!:p

    He's from up the road from me too!


  • #5
    RMD
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,662 ✭✭✭RMD


    Wouldn't surpise me to be honest. I've heard many foreign soldiers before whether in books / tv shows / documentaries etc say the Irish are generally a hard bunch of bastards when it comes to the army.


  • #6
    piby
    Closed Accounts Posts: 539 ✭✭✭piby


    Yeah we used to be hard before the Celtic Tiger, then we bought plasma screens and BMWs :D

    More seriously it actually doesn't surprise me, we have a fair few who one of the VC as well!

    Just out of interest Is there any sort of equivalent medal/what's the highest honour that a member of the PDF/RDF can get?


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  • #7
    neilled
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,234 ✭✭✭neilled


    piby wrote: »
    Yeah we used to be hard before the Celtic Tiger, then we bought plasma screens and BMWs :D

    More seriously it actually doesn't surprise me, we have a fair few who one of the VC as well!

    Just out of interest Is there any sort of equivalent medal/what's the highest honour that a member of the PDF/RDF can get?

    The MMG or DSM afaik......


  • #8
    johnny_doyle
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭johnny_doyle


    piby wrote: »
    More seriously it actually doesn't surprise me, we have a fair few who one of the VC as well!


    Wikipedia has a list of Irish VC winners

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_Victoria_Cross_recipients

    details of some of those buried in Ireland can be found at :

    http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/vcross.htm


    The first ever VC was won by Irish sailor Charles Lucas from Co Armagh.
    The first soldier to win the VC was Sgt (later Major General) Luke O'Connor from Roscommon.

    Lt Maurice Dease of Westmeath is deemed to be the first VC winner of WW1

    The first air force VC of WW2 was awarded to Flying Officer Donald Garland of Co Wicklow (and to his navigator Sgt Thomas Gray).

    7 Irish Surgeons have won VCs including Surgeon-Major Reynolds VC (from Dun Laoghaire) who won his at Rorke's Drift.

    Two of the youngest VCs are Irishmen (though there is some doubt about exact dates of birth) :

    Thomas Flinn from Athlone aged 15years and 3 months.

    Andrew Fitzgibbon aged 15years. Born India of Irish parents.


  • #9
    Captain Furball
    Closed Accounts Posts: 909 ✭✭✭Captain Furball


    Manic Moran wrote: »
    Fixed.
    Any sign of a medal for you?


  • #10
    dtgk1987
    Closed Accounts Posts: 84 ✭✭dtgk1987


    i dont care what anybody says

    the irish are a nation of soldiers.

    apart form the north and south poles, the Irish have fought on every continent on Earth


  • #11
    minidazzler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,650 ✭✭✭✭minidazzler


    dtgk1987 wrote: »
    i dont care what anybody says

    the irish are a nation of soldiers.

    apart form the north and south poles, the Irish have fought on every continent on Earth

    I once heard someone say the Irish have been involved in every major war of the past 300 years on both sides.


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  • #12
    spideog7
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,230 ✭✭✭spideog7


    According to Wikipedia (a most reliable source of information!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor only three of the 19 double recipients were born in Ireland.

    EDIT:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Mullen
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lafferty


  • #13
    It wasn't me!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,034 ✭✭✭✭It wasn't me!


    There's a good Kipling quote on the subject. "The Irish march to the sound of guns like salmon to the sea."


  • #14
    dtgk1987
    Closed Accounts Posts: 84 ✭✭dtgk1987


    we even fought agasint each other in other countries for example

    the american civil war and the spanish civil war


  • #15
    cyrusdvirus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,752 ✭✭✭cyrusdvirus


    It wasn't me! wrote: »
    There's a good Kipling quote on the subject. "The Irish march to the sound of guns like salmon to the sea."

    Thanks!!

    Could never remember the exact wording of that quote, or who first coined it


  • #16
    McArmalite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,476 ✭✭✭McArmalite


    dtgk1987 wrote: »
    we even fought agasint each other in other countries for example

    the american civil war and the spanish civil war
    In the American civil war I think there was a battle where they did indeed fire upon each other though I think it was brief. As for Spain, well O'Duffy's crowd did more drinking than fighting I've heard :)


  • #17
    It wasn't me!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,034 ✭✭✭✭It wasn't me!


    gatecrash wrote: »
    Thanks!!

    Could never remember the exact wording of that quote, or who first coined it

    No problem. It's a nice, succinct way of putting it.


  • #18
    mikemac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,969 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    Tipperary up the top too I see :cool:
    "Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows"
    McArmalite wrote: »
    In the American civil war I think there was a battle where they did indeed fire upon each other though I think it was brief.

    I saw it on another forum the other day.
    Battle of Fredricksburg
    And what were the union generals thinking I'd like to know!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcm8C3xpaRg


  • #19
    McArmalite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,476 ✭✭✭McArmalite


    mikemac wrote: »
    Tipperary up the top too I see :cool:
    "Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows"



    I saw it on another forum the other day.
    Battle of Fredricksburg
    And what were the union generals thinking I'd like to know!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcm8C3xpaRg
    Excellent Mike, excellent. Yeah, what were the union generals thinking. Practically the same stupidity was repeated in WW1 unfortunately.

    "Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows" I beleive Thomas Davis said that ? I was reading Ernie O'Malley's On Another Man's Wound about 1916 - 1921 and he ( a Mayo man ) on seeing the preparedness and willingness of the Tipperary men to engage the british, totally agreed with it.


  • #20
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    dtgk1987 wrote: »
    we even fought agasint each other in other countries for example

    the american civil war and the spanish civil war

    I guess there would have been Irish soldiers on either side in the American - Mexican war as well.


  • #21
    Beano
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,357 ✭✭✭Beano


    Fratton Fred wrote: »
    I guess there would have been Irish soldiers on either side in the American - Mexican war as well.

    Saint Patricks Battalion


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