An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie 48 | By SgT WAyNE FITzgERAlD F elix Tony grant and his twin brother Billy were born in Clonmel in 1947. On the 27th July 1960, Ireland's first peacekeeping battalion 32 Inf Bn, went to the Congo after it gained independence and violence erupted, they were reinforced within a month by 33 Inf Bn. Their father Coy Sgt Felix grant (12 Inf Bn) was serving with the 33 Inf Bn when he became ill with a burst appendix, spilling infec- tious materials into his abdomen. he was airlifted from Katanga to Elisabethville but died on 3rd October 1960 of a suspected heart attack immediately following the opera- tion. he was posthumously awarded the An Bonn Seirbhíse Dearscna: The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) and be- came the first Irish soldier to die overseas on a peacekeep- ing mission. Felix Jnr and Billy were only 13-years-old and their sister Mary only 11 when their father died. 2-years later in 1962 both lads joined the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Bks, Naas to start their military careers. Billy left after 3-years, and travelled to work in the UK. In 1965 Felix went on to serve in the Engr Corps as an electri- cian in the Curragh Camp. In March 1965 an IRA splinter group blew up Nelson's pillar in O'Connell Street, Felix was part of the Engr team tasked with blowing up the rest of the pillar to make the area safe. In March 1967, Felix went overseas himself as a peace- keeper with the 8 Inf Gp, UNFICYP. He was stationed in Xeros (now Denizli), and was responsible for the electrics and generators in the UN camps. Felix said he loved the experience of overseas as a peacekeeper. "As a soldier and engineer we worked well internationally. I remember being taught how to fix the generators by some British soldiers while on a course in Nicosia. It was great to work along side the British soldiers." In 1970 Felix volunteered to go back to Cyprus, again as an electrical engineer with the 18 Inf Gp, UNFICYP. Here Felix was working on the building of new Ops. "There was plenty of hard work, and security duties. But we had a trouble free 6-months. I loved the camaraderie of overseas." In 1972 Felix was sent to Gormanston Camp, when the Troubles had created a wave of refugees from the north, where some families were housed in the billets. "We had to partition the huts so families could co habit there for several months." In October 1973 Felix was again Cyprus bound with the 25 Inf Gp. After a short few weeks they were given notice to move to the Sinai as the Middle East was heating up. "I went on a patrol to an abandoned town called Ismailia, which had an eerie and scary feel to it. We slept on a balcony of a block of flats, in sleeping bags and used prima stoves. This was a great expe- rience, real soldiering." This mission became UNEF II, which lasted less than a year, October 1973 to September 1974. "We were the first UN troops to ever cross the Suez Canal. We built our camp in a blown up railway station… It was dif- ficult to walk on the sand so we used the railway sleepers as a car park and walkway. The Israeli soldiers couldn't believe we were doing all this work, but we expected to be here for months. We even made bunk beds to make life easier. Our next task was to clear minefields, difficult as it is but we hadn't seen these mines before either. We had to clear it in sections as the Egyptians just scattered them. This was another amazing experience, we just got on with the work – they were a unique group of lads. It was great to have no casualties." While on his UN leave, Felix decided to finish his military career on a high and went travelling. He settled in the UK were he worked for many years with Euro Star and as a Facilities Manager with a number of universities and colleges before coming home to retire in Ireland. Tony is a member of Post 24 South Tipperary of the Irish United Nations Veterans Association (IUNVA). For more info contact: IUNVA hQ, Arbour house, Mount Temple Road, Dublin 7. Tel: 016791262 iunvahq@eircom.net - www.iunva.ie The UN cross the Suez Canal in 1973.

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