On March 21 1879, 143 years ago, the worlds first working guided missile was successfully tested in Hobsons bay, Melbourne, Australia by Irish inventor Louis Brennan from Co. Mayo, Ireland.…

Dhia dhuit, all,

Now that all the final editing is done (including one version in which the title town was spelled 'Conakilty'...argg) my novel "The Lockwoods of Clonakilty" is available through Amazon or any bookstore's online ordering.

I'll be working with TheWildGeese.Irish to share some of the content, and…

In the 1940s it was tough being a communist in Ireland. All card carrying members were followed by the Special Branch, tended to be boycotted by the establishment and were refused jobs. Thomas O’Brien had returned from fighting in the International Brigade in Spain against Franco. As a vocal and proud communist, and poet, he was faced with certain unemployment. Perhaps influenced by Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia, he…

My last night in the homeland was spent at Bunratty Castle, a 15th-century tower house in County Clare, on the Ratty river. Caisleán Bhun Raithe meaning Castle at the Mouth of the Ratty. On the grounds of the castle is a folk park, which is just lovely. I unfortunately was wandering through at closing time so didn't get to…

Six weeks later, Stubby, the canine hero of the 102nd, was healed. The little scamp of a dog who had fought to survive on the streets of New Haven was was not easy to kill. He was sent back to the ranks, though the hospital staff and patients, who had been enjoying Stubby’s perky and therapeutic presence there, probably…

" It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.” 

                                                                          - Mark Twain

On April 25th of 1919 in…

In 1812, in the first summer of America's 'second War of Independence' with Britain, a valuable survey describing the whole Niagara Frontier was made by Irish immigrant Nicholas…

With the approach of the 1916 Irish Easter Rising Centennial, there’s been renewed interest in "Shalom Ireland," a documentary film I made about Ireland’s remarkable, yet little known, Jewish community (www.ShalomIreland.com).  So I picked up my copy of "For the Life of Me," the…

And then when we got to Miami, the Gesu Church, which is a beautiful Catholic church, an old church in the heart of Miami, they had big signs posted as you entered, ‘Colored seat from the rear.’…

Was it the IRA who created the bomb that killed two detectives outside the New York World Fair's British Pavilion 75 years ago today?

Or was it a German agent or Nazi…

On behalf of TheWildGeese.Irish, I attended the latest lecture in the Irish Department Foreign Affairs Commemorative Lecture Series, titled Ireland, the Irish and Civil War America, held in the magnificent Iveagh House, Dublin.

Pictured: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan T.D.

Hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie…

Memorial Day, originally titled Decoration Day, has a somewhat murky origin. But what is clear is that on May 30, 1868, 146 years ago today, 5,000 gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to commemorate the 20,000 fallen warriors buried there, with the help of remarks by General and future President James…

By Dr. Laura Kelley

Usually, when we speak about the Irish Diaspora in the USA, New Orleans is not among the cities that first come to mind as centers of Irish population and…

Publisher: Merrion…

The 2012 Olympic Games in London reminded me of my Dad (photo left, during World War 2). He lived in the great battered city during World War II, part of a colorful U.S. Army career that included:

* Discovering that the cook at Gardner Field in Taft, just over the county line of my Central California home, was…

New York -- News of the passing of former New York state Governor Mario Cuomo reminds me of one of several serendipitous encounters I had with the Governor, whom I once happily envisioned as US president. With his flights of eloquence, his progressive views, and staunch opposition to the death penalty, he seemed to exude the self-assurance and humanism…

Part 2 of 3 of the series ‘We Will Probably Land Christmas Day’: At War in the Atlantic, 1942 

Part 1 of 2, “Getting To Where We Are Going” includes my father's accounts of his first quiet week on the high…

No large operation in World War II surpassed the invasion of North Africa in complexity, daring, risk, or -- as the official U.S. Army Air Forces history concludes -- 'the degree of strategic surprise achieved.'



     -- Author Rick Atkinson,…

Amateur photographer George Hackney was sent to the war from his home in Belfast in 1915, taking his camera with him.  The photo above was taken in 1916 in Belgium.  The collection contains very impressive rare images, including surrendering German troops during the Battle…