Army veteran relives Katanga – 60 years on from the deadly Niemba ambush

MOST people agree that the Ireland of the 1950s was a pretty grey and bleak period of our social history with limited educational opportunities, little by way of industry and very few job opportunities.

Tommy Gavin, one of eleven children, left the CBS in Mullingar in the early part of that decade, barely a teenager, and odd-jobbed for a time with local farmers where the payment might be a bag of potatoes at the end of the week.

Things improved – marginally – when he got the job of a messenger boy but in November, 1958, he was to follow the path of three of his brothers by joining the Irish Army for a three-month training stint in Athlone.

An NCO (Non-Commissioned Officers) course followed before he trained as a PT (physical training) instructor in the Curragh leading to his promotion as a corporal, before word filtered through to him and a gang of his mates in July, 1960, of a possible trip to the Congo.

“This was voluntary but once someone mentioned the Congo, the idea just took off. We didn’t even have a clue where it was but there was no way I was going to be left behind.

“To be honest, I don’t think I had ever seen an aeroplane before not to mind going on one. I was just 20 at the time . . . it was an adventure . . . and I’ll never forget being astounded at the size of the plane at Baldonnel Airfield, a US Globemaster,” Tommy recalls.

Read Tommy Gavin’s full story, with photos from the Congo, in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now. Or you can download our digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie