An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir Dec 2016 / Jan 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 8 | By NEIL O'DONOGHUE PhotoS By SGT MICK BURKE a tiMe to reMeMBer O n Saturday 10th September 2016 a reunion took place that was 40 years in the making, taking 30 months to produce and finally premiered in the osprey hotel, Naas, which is built on the site of the Army Apprentice School, Devoy Bks. this date coincided with the date when a group of 38 young teenagers had joined the 21st Apprentice Platoon forty years previously. The planning for this reunion started in September 2013 with Ciaran O'Grady and myself. Our collective minds started to try and see how many of our platoon could be contacted and were in- terested in attending a reunion. Ciaran set up the platoon page on Facebook and we worked tirelessly with interest buzzing the numbers started to increase. Class reps were designated to follow up on their own group getting deposits and trying to contact the few that we had not heard from. As the date got closer more guys started making arrange- ments to travel from different parts of the world. At this point I would like to thank Seamus Curran, Brian Cassidy, Phil McLoughlin, Martin Cummins, Christy Murphy, who were the class reps, Chris O'Callaghan who was our lost soul finder, and again to Christy for doubling up as treasurer for this event, with- out their assis- tance it was not possible to have such an impact. I arrived at the Osprey on the Saturday morning at 10am not knowing what to expect, 37 years since some of us had seen or spoken to one another - it was like our initial meeting 40 years earlier. Those who ac- cepted to meet up arrived, shook hands with smiles of acknowl- edgement on recogni- tion of those guys who we considered as 'family', having spent three years liv- ing and work- ing together. John Concar arrived at the hotel with the same suitcase he had when walking through the gates of Devoy Bks 40 years previous. He even had parts of his original kit inside. That morning we boarded a bus for a trip to the Curragh Mili- tary Museum, where the staff gave a guided tour during a well worth visit. Then it was back to the Osprey for a wash and change before meeting for dinner. A moment's silence was held before dinner for the memory of the most prolific person to have guided young apprentices through the Army Apprentice School: Mick Hennessy R.I.P. who sadly passed away at the start of 2016. We were privileged to have this icon as our Platoon Sergeant for our three years. Also in attendance were Chris Brereton and Joe Pearson, who were our Platoon Corporals, and Dave Henry who joined the training in our third year, in absence was Mick Behan. As dinner came to an end I had the chance to speak to the assembled group to recall some of the highlights of our time in Naas. Memories of times long past seemed to come back as we travelled back in time to the trips we took to Paris and Amster- dam, of our training NCOs who in some cases were not much older than we were - that is why we were more than an army platoon, we were a family of brothers. The night started to wind down and we adjourned to the bar for continued remising on past days, which led late into the Sunday. The new committee now have a database to help continue to arrange these gatherings. Finally a big thanks to Sgt Mick Burke for photographing this event and a wish of grateful thanks to Ciaran O'Grady who helped make my dream of this reunion a reality. 21st Platoon AAS " We were more than an army platoon, we were a family of brothers " Neil O'Donoghue & Ciaran O'Grady

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