In the early morning hours of August 2, 1943, a small American torpedo boat was moving just west of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. In command was a young Irish-American destined to be the first Catholic president of the United States: Lieutenant…

By John Bruton

In 1963, when President John Fitzgerald Kennedy visited Ireland, I was 15 years of age.

To understand the impact of President Kennedy, one has to understand that the Ireland of 1960 was a very different place, even to the…

• Related Resources: Remembering JFK 50 Years On

I am glad to be here. It took 115 years to make this trip,

and 6,000 miles, and three generations. But I…

John Ridge Presents on Lost Irish Colonies of New York

John Ridge, premier researcher of Irish life in the New York metropolitan area, spoke about the discoveries he has made about Irish neighborhoods in New York at the Irish Cultural Society…

The following is a transcript taken from the LIVE members' chat hosted here at TheWildGeese.com on Monday, November 11, 2013 with fellow Wild Geese member, Jim Goulding.  Jim…

By Joseph Gannon

Perhaps the most famous — or infamous — Irishman ever to trod south of the equator was the outlaw Ned Kelly, whose legend gave birth to "…

November 11th, marks both Remembrance Day in Ireland and the “Commonwealth Countries,” and Veteran’s Day in the United States of America. Although no official holiday is observed on the 11th of November in the Republic of Ireland,…

(My dad was a lorry driver for Bord Na Mona, the Irish Peat/turf development board, and I was asked to write a remembrance of those times for their pensioners' magazine. Thanks to his job I was able as a kid to travel over most of Ireland to deliver equipment and spares from their central stores, now the HQ, in Newbridge, Co.…

MÁIRT -- On Sept. 17, 1860, units of the Irish Battalion of St. Patrick of the Papal army fought a Piedmontese army allied with Garibaldi at Spoleto. Spoleto was a walled city south of Florence with the fortress of Rocca on the side…

The following is a transcript of the LIVE Wild Geese Community Chat hosted here at TheWildGeese.com on Sunday, September 8, 2013 with historian C. Michael (Mike) Harrington.  Some editing has…

Sunday, September 8th is the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Sabine Pass. The occasion is being celebrated as "Dick Dowling Days."



Though a relatively small engagement, Sabine Pass represented perhaps the finest single day's work of any Irish unit, North or South, in the American Civil War. At Sabine Pass, on the Texas coast near the Louisiana…

Hulton Deutsch Roger Casement being led out of Pentonville Prison, where he would later be hanged.

DOMHNAIGH -- On September 1,…

As we commemorate the 50^th anniversary of perhaps the second most famous speech in American history on August 28, 1963   (Lincoln’s Gettysburg address is certainly the first), the man who gave the “I Have a Dream” speech,…

REMEMBERING RAY COYNE,

A LEADER FOR LI'S IRISH

When Ray Coyne died on July 2, 2013, the Irish Cultural Society of Garden City, NY lost one of its founders.  He and Sally were avid members of the audience at meetings.  Many of in the audiences remember the gift of a handshake and a smile…

The team here at The Wild Geese is excited to announce the newest regular feature in this community.  The Wild Geese Virtual Síbín will be a series of occasional conversations with newsmakers (often members) from the global Irish community, broadcast live via Google + Hangout.  These talks will also be…

By James Francis Smith (First published 2/25/12)

As February’s Black History Month fades into memory and March Madness for the Irish begins its ascendancy, there’s a brief moment where the black takes on a tinge of green.

(A…

Ultonia Regiment of the Spanish army, toy soldiers by "The Warrior Irish."

DOMHNAIGH -- On August 11, 1744, during the…

(First published on 2/10/12) Seattle-based author James Francis Smith, 78, found his current calling after he retired from a career in industry and finance.  He has been writing historical fiction for the past 10 years, starting with “Western…

Part 2: Andersonville

By Ed Churchill

A turn of the century postcard view of Fort Monroe, where Whelan and his comrades were exchanged.

On June 20 Olmstead and his officers…