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US Navy ship to be named after Irish man killed in Vietnam.

Nathangun

FGM Major General
FGM MEMBER
I'm impressed, as a Irish man this warms my heart.

Patrick ‘Bob’ Gallagher was awarded Navy Cross for saving lives of three comrades.

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The US navy is to name a ship after a young Mayo man Cpl Patrick (Bob) Gallagher who was killed in Vietnam in 1967, it was announced in New York on Monday.

US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced that the US navy would name its next destroyer “in honour of USMC Corporal Patrick ‘Bob’ Gallagher” from near Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo. On July 18th, 1966, 23-year-old Cpl Gallagher saved the lives of three comrades in Vietnam, for which he was awarded the Navy Cross, the US navy’s highest honour.

On July 18, 1966, Lance Cpl. Patrick Gallagher threw his body on an incoming grenade before throwing it into a nearby river where it exploded without harming him or his fellow Marines.

In a statement, members of the Gallagher family thanked all involved in bringing this event about.

Peter, Teresa, Rosemarie, and Pauline Gallagher, siblings of Cpl Gallagher, thanked US Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer, Mr Schumer and his staff, but also Martin Durkin and Marius Donnelly for organising the campaign to have a navy ship named after their brother. They also thanked US Brigadier General Michael Neil.

Cpl Gallagher was from Derrintogher, near Ballyhaunis, and in 1962 he went to stay with his aunt at Long Island, New York. He got a job in property and started at law school. He also campaigned for senator Robert Kennedy there in 1964.

In February 1966, he returned to Ballyhaunis for three weeks but did not tell his family he had been drafted into the US Marines. He went to Vietnam in April that year.

News of this local hero caused great excitement in Ireland. In Ballyhaunis, plans were laid for his homecoming but on the day he was due home they buried him instead. On March 30th, 1967. he was shot dead while on patrol in Da Nang.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/03/13/two-destroyers-named-for-marine-corps-veterans/

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ire...ed-after-mayo-man-killed-in-vietnam-1.3424367

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