Mayo welcomes last surviving officer of the Siege of Jadotville as its newest resident
He has a very distinguished professional and sporting career
The last surviving officer of the Siege of Jadotville has moved to live in Mayo.
Noel Carey and his wife Angela Carey have arrived in Castlebar from Cork.
Noel is a retired Captain from the Irish Defence Forces and also worked with Waterford Crystal as manager of their sports complex for over 20 years and originally hails from Limerick.
Angela is a retired nurse and is from Cork originally. They have five children living in Ireland and the UK.
Noel was an outstanding sportsman in his day, representing Limerick at minor county level in Gaelic football.
He also won a Kildare county senior medal as a member of a Defence Forces Cadet team.
He played soccer for Pike Rovers and was capped for the Irish International youth soccer team.
He also played League of Ireland soccer for Bohemians and Sligo Rovers Football Clubs. He played rugby at all grades for Young Munster and was capped at senior level for Connacht.
Noel served in the Irish Defence Forces for over 20 years, mainly with the 6th Infantry Battalion in Athlone.
He served on the border during the ‘60s and also overseas on three different missions in the Congo and twice in Cyprus.
He was a young Platoon Commander with A Company of the 35th Irish Battalion which deployed to the Congo as part of a United Nations mission in 1961 to help bring peace to that country.
During that time, A Company was deployed to Jadotville to protect the townspeople who were expecting rioting to break out.
A Company ended up fighting a heroic battle against mercenary soldiers and Katangese soldiers for over five days at Jadotville.
They endured artillery, machine gun fire and numerous attacks by both day and night during this time. They were also attacked and bombed and machined gunned from the air.
They inflicted severe casualties on the mercenary and Katangese force with a number of injured on their side.
After running out of food and water as well as most of their ammunition and with two failed attempts to rescue them by other UN forces in the area they had to agree terms with the Katangese military commander. The Company was held hostage for four weeks after the battle.
The events at Jadotville received little publicity at the time both at home and in the Defence Forces.
It was only with the publication of Declan Power’s book, The Siege of Jadotville, and the subsequent film starring Jamie Dornan that the members of A Company finally got the recognition they deserved.
At a special ceremony held in Custume Barracks, Athlone, in 2017 the surviving members of A Company 35th Battalion were presented with the Jadotville Medal by the Minister for Defence and the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces.
Noel has appeared in TV documentaries and radio programmes about Jadotville and has lectured about his experiences to Defence Forces courses in the Military College and to various military and historical societies across Ireland.
He has also spoken about his experiences a number of times at Davitt College in Castlebar. He has just given a talk in Castlebar last month about Jadotville.
Since retiring Noel has been a tutor for the Go for Life programme which encourages senior citizens to be more active.
A warm welcome is extended to Noel and Angela.