An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir April 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 22 | The Easter 1966 Guard of Honour by COMDT LOUIS O'BRIEN (RETD) T o commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in 1966, it was necessary to furnish an outstanding 100-strong guard of honour (Goh) for President de Valera at the opening and closing ceremonies. 'D' Company (Pearse), 20 Inf Bn FCÁ were chosen, firstly because of the appropriateness of its name and, secondly because the Pearse was recognised as having a standard of foot and arms drill second to none. The company commander, Comdt Dan O'Connell, was given three months notice of what was required. (Comdt O'Connell was a brother of the former Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal O'Connell, so if any miracles were required, he had an inside track!) The two officers chosen for the GoH were 'D' Company's most senior lieutenants, Canice Mansfield and myself, who was appointed colours officer. The 100 men of the GoH were chosen from all five sub- units of the company. There was plenty to pick from, as in 1959, when the Pearse Battalion was reduced to the status of a company, it had a strength of 650 - making it the larg- est infantry company in the world! The company began rehearsals on 1st January 1966 and each weekend and every Tuesday night were devoted to training and polishing our foot and arms drill. To counter- act the risk of the company becoming over-trained and losing heart, every second parade was devoted to lessons not connected with ceremonial drill. This worked and the non-attendance rate sank to almost zero. In fact, men who had gone 'non-effective' in 1965 applied to rejoin so that they could participate in 'the Guard'. This GoH was the first to wear white gloves, and was awarded a golden lanyard to commemorate the event. Amongst those who made up the final 100, were Cpl N Scarlett, a grandnephew of Pearse, and Pte J Bruton, a future Taoiseach. On the Easter Sunday morning, the GoH formed up at Liberty Hall and marched to the GPO. The weather held up and everything went like clockwork. The weather for the closing ceremony on the night of the 16th was not as kind but at least the rain had ceased. Apart from being in charge of the colours, I had hurried my wife into a nursing home that morning just in time for the delivery of our son. Sadly the other two officers involved have passed away, as have 20% of the GoH. However, thankfully there are enough left to cherish a historic moment in their young lives and the compliment to their unit in being selected for this hugely important event. Thank you to Comdt Tony Thuillier (Retd.) for submitting and helping with this article. President de Valera reviews the guard of honour outside the GPO. Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images A photograph of the OC GoH Comdt Dan O'Connell and of Lt O'Brien which was signed by President de Valera. President de Valera arriving for the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1916 Rising. Photo: The National Photographic Archive

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