An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir October 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | BY PTE TERENCE O'REILLY, DEFENCE FORCES LIBRARY, MIL COL, DFTC 5 INFANTRY BATTALION T he original 5 Infantry Battalion was formed in Athlone in February 1923 as one of five battalions under the Athlone Command, with its first commanding officer being Comdt B Carrahan. Several officers in the new battalion were former mem- bers of the Longford Flying Column, many of whom had fought in the famous Battle of Ballinalee under General Sean McEoin. In 1924 the unit was moved to the Curragh Camp where it re- mained until its transfer to Portobello Barracks, Dublin in 1928. One year later it was transferred to Collins Barracks (Dublin), which was to be its permanent home until 1941. After the beginning of the Emergency in 1940 the battalion was tasked with occupying posts at Blackcastle House, Boyne House and Gibbstown House in County Meath. In August 1941 these out- posts were evacuated and the battalion moved back to Portobello Barracks as part of 2 Infantry Brigade. In the summer of 1942 the battalion participated in the Blackwa- ter Exercises, which involved a 150-mile march across the country, a month of division-level exercises in County Cork, and then a march back to Dublin, where it remained until October 1942 when it was transferred to Bray, with outposts in Bray International Hotel, Greystones and Killiney. After the conclusion of the Emergency, 5 Inf Bn was based in Gormanston Camp from January 1946 until November 1946 when it moved to Griffith Barracks, Portobello Barracks and the Hibernian School in the Phoenix Park. In 1956, the battalion again marched to the Blackwater as part of Exercise 'Youghal'. At this time, Lt Col Seán Clancy was appointed battalion commander, a veteran officer who had served with the Dublin Brigade IRA during the War of Independence, before serving throughout the Civil War with the National Army and, later still, through the Emergency with 18 Infantry Battalion. Lt Col Clancy commanded the battalion until his retirement in 1959. (He died in 2006 at the ripe old age of 105, the last surviving War of Independence veteran; 5 Inf Bn rendered military honours at his funeral.) As part of the 1959 reorganisation 5 Infantry Battalion absorbed the personnel of the recently disbanded 7 Inf Bn and returned to Collins Barracks, where it would find a home for nearly 40 years. In 1960 members of the battalion deployed to the Congo with the UN peacekeeping force and suffered its first overseas casualties when Cpl Liam Duggan (34) and Cpl Peter Kelly (25) were killed in the Niemba Ambush that November. In December 1961, Lt Patrick Riordan (25) and Cpl Michael Fallon (18) were killed during the

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