An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 9 Lt general MJ Costello By SgT WAynE FITzgERALD D uring the summer of 2017, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the late Lt gen Michael Joseph (MJ) Costello visited the offices of An Co- santóir, the magazine that he founded in 1940. Together with his family we looked back over the career of our founder. It was a truly interesting and insightful day for all of us. MJ Costello was born in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, in 1904, and in 1922, aged 18, was serving as a second lieuten- ant with the newly formed Irish Free State Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann). A short time later, the young officer was promoted to colonel-commandant by General Michael Collins and served as Intelligence Officer, 3rd Southern Division. By October 1923 he was Director of Intelligence aged 19. In 1926 he and five other Irish officers went on a military mission to the US, where he and Hugo MacNeill studied at the US Army's, Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth while the others studied elsewhere. Appointed Commandant, the Military College, in 1933 he served in that post for four years before being appointed Assistant Chief of Staff, a position he held when the Emer- gency was declared in 1939. At the end of 1939 he was appointed to command the Southern Command and it was in this position that he es- tablished An Cosantóir as a newsletter in December 1940 as a medium of instruction to disseminate official views and instructions to members of the Southern Command. In May 1941, the Defence Forces was reorganised into 2 Divisions. He was promoted to Major General and ap- pointed to command the 1st (Thunderbolt) Division, with the Divisional HQ in Collins Bks, Cork - where he was already based. In 1945 at the end of World War II, MJ Costello's services were sought in industry and he took up the appointment as general manager of the Irish Sugar Company. He sadly passed away in 1986. In the October 1986 issue of An Cosantóir Col J Flynn (retd) wrote: "He has just gone from us, RIP, leaving behind a record of superb achieve- ment in the military as well as the national sphere. He holds a special place as being one of the most outstand- ingly able officers the army has produced: he possessed superior intellectual capacity, high organisational skill, keen perceptiveness, an amazing intensity of application, and a tremendous drive, which was uppermost in the initiation, planning and carrying through of his various duties. He was unique in many ways: he stood out as a leader; by example and foresight he impressed his subordinates who, recognising his striking qualities and knowledge were inspired to rise to the rigorous standards he set for himself and demanded for them." MJ Costello. IE-MA-P-157-037 Courtesy of Military Archives General Costello's family visiting the Curragh Camp. The Irish military mission lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery, September 1926. The military mission to the US returned to Ireland in October 1927 - 90 years ago this month. Pictured: 2nd Lt Charles Troddyn/Trodden, Lt Seán Collins-Powell, Capt Patrick Perry, Col MJ Costello, Maj Gen Hugo MacNeill and Major Joseph Dunne. Washington, 1926. IE-MA- PRCN-0069-11-02-07 Courtesy of Military Archives Walking behind Éamon de Valera, Uachtarán na hÉireann inspecting troops during The Emergency, Southern Command HQ, Collins Barracks, Cork.

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