Congo was one of Pat’s nine tours of duty abroad

by David Flynn

Pat McCrossan was on several peacekeeping tours of duty, but his first one was to the Congo, and it was the second last Irish army trip there.

“It was 1963, and I was with the 39th Battalion, and we were all young gossans, and didn’t know here we were going and we were in bulls wool and hobnail boots,” he said. “There were a few little skirmishes here and there, but nothing major was happening there at the time.”

In an interview Pat gave to the Westmeath Independent in 2011, he said that he wasn’t impressed with the sun on any of his trips abroad.

“I wouldn’t stay out in the sun, because I don’t really like it,” he said laughing. “But at night in the Congo, it got really cold, and we had to light a little fire to stay warm.”

Pat did two trips to Cyprus and six trips to Lebanon before he retired from the army in Custume Barracks.

Pat was in attendance at a special event, hosted by IUNVA, in Athlone to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the mission to Congo. See FULL STORY HERE