Dan Breen was startled awake from his dozing slumber by the sound of tramping feet. The small room suddenly flashed to near daylight as a spotlight played across the window looking out to the back of the house. Breen leaped to his feet and grabbed his Mauser pistol off the chair where he had left…

DOMHNAIGH -- On August 9, 1876, Josephine Bracken, whose parents were from Belfast, was born in Victoria City, British Hong Kong. Her father James, a soldier in the British army, was a native of County Offaly. Josephine's mother, a McBride, died in childbirth. She was…

Aidan MacCarthy crouched low in the air raid shelter he and the other prisoners of war had dug themselves. They had seen two American B-29 bombers flying toward the city of Nagasaki before they went into the shelter. A few POWs had stayed outside, though, wanting to see bombs fall on the Japanese for…

We’re marking the 75th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. And yes, an Irish national --- Julia Canny a.k.a. Sister Mary of Saint Isaac Jogues --- was present and survived. My story together with the accompanying photographs (reproduced below) appeared in the 11 August 1999 editions of two Irish newspapers:…

Pete Hamill, a prolific writer residing in New York City, was born and raised by parents who had emigrated from Belfast, Ireland. Writing about his first trip to Ireland – a journey not taken till he was a grown man -- he talks about boarding the plane as “a newspaperman, trained by vigorous masters to a…

Much has been written about the period of upheaval, sectarian hatred and relentless bloodshed that occurred in the province of Ulster in the north of Ireland in the 30 years between 1968 and 1998. Unless you were there and lived through the madness, it's likely that you have trouble actually…

At the Ould Lammas Fair boys were you ever there

Were you ever at the Fair In Ballycastle-O?

Did you treat your Mary Ann

To some Dulse and Yellow Man

At the…

A fruit “fool” – the word supposedly derives from the French fouler, meaning “to crush”—calls for combining puréed fruit with beaten eggs and sugar, whipped cream, sour cream, or yogurt for a virtually “foolproof” dessert. This recipe, which pays homage to the fraughan (also known as…

This five-part series on the 69th New York Irish Brigade at the 1st Battle of Bull Run is drawn from the book "The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns," by Tipperary native David P. Conyngham, published in 1866. Conyngham served during the Civil War, for a time with Meagher's Irish Brigade, and finally as a correspondent for the New York Herald. In part 4 of 5 the…