An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | BY PAT POLAND R eaders of a certain vintage will recall the classic black and white movie, The Fighting Sullivans, originally released in 1944 .It tells of the five Irish-American Catholic Sullivan brothers – George, Frank, Joe, Matt and Albert - from Waterloo, Iowa, US, who were all lost after their warship, the USS Juneau, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific in November 1942. Their father, Tom Sullivan, was played by the great character actor, Thomas Mitchell, reprising his role as a pater familias in the 1939 blockbuster, Gone With The Wind. Selena Royle was cast in the part of their mother, Mrs Alleta Sullivan. Of more recent vintage is the acclaimed 1998 movie, Saving Pri- vate Ryan, part of which was filmed at Ballinesker Beach, Curracloe, Co. Wexford. It recounts the (semi-fictional) tale of a squad of US Army Rangers as they search for an American paratrooper, 'Private James Francis Ryan', lost behind enemy lines in Normandy in 1944. He is the last surviving brother of four servicemen. The picture is loosely based on the true story of the Niland brothers who all served in the US Army during WWII. As a direct result of these events, particularly the Sullivan fam- ily calamity, the US War Department adopted the 'Sole Survivor Policy'. These regulations were designed to protect members of a family from the draft or from combat duty if they had already lost members in military service. Nearer to home, the poignant story of the four Shea brothers from Co. Kilkenny – John, Richard, Patrick, and Joseph - all of whom perished in the First World War, has, with the centenary of the end of the war book-ended, been belatedly, but deservedly, remem- bered on RTE's Nationwide. And, even more recently, we learned of the sad fate of the three Sheehan brothers – Harry (24), Frank (26) and Edward (29) – from Fermoy, Co. Cork, who, while members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, gave their lives when shot down over Germany during WWII. It goes without saying that the loss of their sons was an unspeakable personal tragedy for the Sullivan, Niland, Shea, and Sheehan families. This short article considers the no-less heart- rending narrative of the three Ryan brothers (all commissioned officers in the Irish Defence Forces) of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, who, although not falling in combat, nonetheless made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country. The officers who died, 2nd Lt Michael J. Ryan (19) (Air Corps), Lt Thomas A. Ryan (22) (Army), and Capt. William J. Ryan (36) (Air Corps) were sons of Mr and Mrs W. P. Ryan, owners of Ryan's Cen- tral Hotel, Cashel. Sadly, in two incidents, (those involving Michael Ryan and Thomas Ryan), a comrade also perished. 2nd Lt Michael J. Ryan and Pte Patrick Power died following air accident at Laytown, Co. Meath, Saturday 27 July 1940. The Saturday Herald for 27 July 1940 reported that: Three Army 'planes were on tactical exercises in North Co. Dublin this morning and one of them, a Hawker Hind, crashed at 11.40 a.m. at Laytown, Co. Meath. The pilot, Lieut Michael Ryan (19) a native of Cashel, Co. Tipperary, and the gunner, Pte Patrick Power (20) Tra- more, Co. Waterford, were killed. The aircraft, a Hawker Hind I (No.70) approached the popular seaside resort of Laytown from the direction of the Irish Air Corps station at Gormanston and flew over the strand. The pilot seemed to be in difficulties (some observers reported that the engine was 'miss- ing') and looking for a place to land, but he could not find one due to the number of people on the beach. He was seen to wave his hand, appar- ently as a signal to the crowd to clear a space but turned and flew inland, but then changed course

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