Next Saturday marks one of the most celebrated days on the Irish calendar, the day the optimists call “Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day.” It’s a great excuse for a trip to an Irish pub, or at least a good reason to serve some foods with the name “Irish” in them — you know the ones: Irish Stew, Irish Soda Bread, Irish Cream…

New York picks up the pieces

PART 4 OF A 4-PART SERIES -- THURSDAY -- DAY 3 [Sept. 13] (continued)

Barbara [Vic's wife] works at Baruch College -- a not quite completed $320 million complex right across from the 69th. They forgot to install a flagpole so I go over and to get American Flags -- to hang in the windows of her office and one for the 2nd Floor of the 69th -- for all to see as they climb up to the second floor.…

The families of the missing arrive at the Armory

PART 3 OF 4

69th New York veteran Vic Olney, the volunteer manager of the 69th armory's Officers Club, observed the battalion's soldiers last week as they return from duty in and near "The Pit." What he saw and heard both inspired and saddened him.

THURSDAY -- DAY 3 [Sept. 13]

Garryowen and Glory from NYC,…

The 69th is called into action after the World Trade Center attack

PART 2 IN A 4-PART SERIES

69th New York veteran Vic Olney, the volunteer manager of the 69th armory's Officers Club, observed the battalion's soldiers last week as they return from duty in and near "The Pit." What he saw and heard both inspired and saddened him.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT (Sept. 12)

Garryowen and Glory from NYC,

It is now 11 PM on…

MÁIRT -- On September 13, 1803, John Barry (left), of Ballysampson, Co.Wexford, considered by many to be the 'Father of the U.S. Navy,' died in Philadelphia. At a young age, Barry went to sea as a fisherman; by age 20, he had a master's licensee. He emigrated to…

New York's Irish pack a chapel to recall beloved FDNY chaplain, friend (first publish in October, 2001)

Mychal Judge may be happily 'working the door' at St. Peter's Gate, and heaven would be the fuller for it. But for those many lives he touched on earth, there is an aching sense of loss.

By Gerry Regan

NEW…

Rocker Larry Kirwan, the founder and front-man of Irish rock mainstay Black 47, had a close-up perspective on the mayhem of 9/11. He shared the following reminscence of that day with subscribers to the band's newsletter in 2006. (Kirwan mentioned to readers that the excerpt is based upon a chapter from his memoir,…

This book represents the first installment of a planned trilogy that encompasses the progression of transported felon, John Turner Flinn through the various stages of the Tasmanian penal system of the 1840’s and is based upon actual records and newspaper articles from the time. The second novel will culminate in his being…

Gustavus Conyngham is known to history as the “Dunkirk Pirate,” but that was the name the British gave him. It was not a name that he ever would have given himself. He thought of himself only as, Gustavus Conyngham, USN (United States Navy). He was never, in fact, a pirate. He was a commissioned officer in the new U.S…

I was at a wedding in Co Cork recently, it was truly a lovely ceremony and was made extra special with this ancient Celtic custom of handfasting. I had heard of handfasting before, but this was the first wedding ceremony I was at that this custom was actually performed and I was intrigued to learn that the phrase 'tying the knot' came from…

To say that truth is always the first casualty of war may be a cliché, but it never was more apt than when applied to the thirty years of Ireland’s most recent, painful and pointless ‘Troubles’ [1968-98]. Many…

DOMHNAIGH -- September 4, 1607, (Julian calendar) was a crucial day in Irish history. On that day Hugh O'Neill, Ruari O'Donnell and many other chiefs of their families departed from Lough Swilly for the continent. It is known in Irish history as the 'Flight of…

Okay, it’s not the Super Bowl, but for fans of Ireland, the Aer Lingus College Football Classic pitting Boston College against Georgia Tech in Dublin on Saturday was nothing short of “super!” Regrettably, I didn't attend the big game at Aviva Stadium, won by Georgia Tech 17-14, but I’m delighted to count myself among…

It looked sad and forlorn sitting by the side of the Creamery road as though it knew that it had long been abandoned. I first noticed it one rainy afternoon when I was almost seven years old and I can still vividly recall the sweet scent of wild honeysuckle, hanging heavily on the air that…

His name was Eoghan, and I never did catch his last name. A solid year spent with the desultory coming and going of this enigmatic man through the door of The Galway Music Center, and I came to accept him as Kieran’s friend from Derry. Kieran rarely explained himself, much less anyone attendant, and because he was the…

I was lying on the couch one lazy Sunday evening ‘channel surfing,and doing my utmost to avoid the news channels. I find that watching the news these days only deepens my brooding sense of melancholia and re-awakens the primal urge to run away, wrap myself in animal skins and take up…

Seamus Heaney, considered by many to be the greatest Irish poet since William B. Yeats, texted his wife Marie a few hours before his death: “Do not be afraid!” How comforting these words were to her I do not know. They seem, however, appropriate words for a man who faced so many crises in his life, dealt with them with…

LUAIN -- On August 29, 1803, Samuel Neilson, one of the founders of the United Irishmen, died in Poughkeepsie, New York. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Neilson had made a fortune in business by 1790, then he dedicated himself to Irish politics. It was Neilson, a native of Ballyroney, County…

Within the written she resides 

in quiet assurance of her place. 

Lithe and languid, with regal mien, 

she glides from the page bearing gifts.

The mantle, flowing through the ages,

envelops her in verity profound.

Gently musing all the while, 

in soft tones of…