Col Mortimer Buckley:COL MORTIMER Buckley, who has died aged 93, was a former OC of the Western Command and led the first Irish peacekeeping force to serve abroad.
In July 1960 he was appointed by the chief of staff, Lieut Gen Seán Mac Eoin, to command the 32nd Infantry Battalion formed to join UN troops of 25 other countries in the UN's operation in the Congo, which was in turmoil.
Over 3,000 members of the Defence Forces volunteered for the six-month tour of duty and 600 men were chosen. The troops were cheered as they marched through the streets of Dublin before flying out from Baldonnell Aerodrome, where the archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, saw them off. The lightly armed force set up headquarters in Goma in Kivu province, more than 1,000 miles from the main UN base in Léopoldville; a second company of troops was stationed in Bukavu and another in Kindu, 450 miles from battalion HQ.
The battalion experienced some difficulties with radio communications. An Irish-born police superintendent in Kampala, Uganda, who was a radio ham, made a home-made radio available on loan; this provided a reliable link to GHQ in Dublin.
Cathal O'Shannon, who reported from the Congo for The Irish Times, wrote: "The 32nd Battalion was a lucky one. It never had to fire a shot in anger, though it might have had to threaten to . . . It was remarkable to see how rapidly these men, fresh from places like the Curragh and draughty barracks all over Ireland, came to terms with a new country and their new jobs. They succeeded by a mixture of charm and firmness, by fair dealing and by almost intuitive instinct."
Col Buckley did not see any atrocities committed in the Congo, nor did he know what went wrong at Niemba, when eight members of an 11-strong patrol serving with the 33rd Battalion, were killed in an ambush. But he felt that what happened could have happened to his own men in a similar situation.
One of the best things he recollected doing was to allow Congolese soldiers go on patrol with his troops. He recommended to his superiors that the practice should be adopted by other UN units, a recommendation accepted by the UN commander, Gen von Horn.
Forty years after serving in the Congo, he said: "I think we did a marvellous job. We got the confidence of the people and there was peace and quiet all the time we were there . . . our purpose was to maintain the peace and we succeeded in doing it."
Born in May 1915 in Knocknagowna, Faha, Co Kerry, he was the son of Larry Buckley, a farmer, and his wife Ellen (née Lyne). He attended Faha national school and was a pupil of Tralee CBS, where he secured both the Intermediate and Leaving Certificates.
Enlisting in the Volunteer Force in 1936, he was attached to the 9th Cyclist Squadron. Offered a cadetship in 1937, he was commissioned in 1939.
It was at the Defence Forces Cadet School in the Curragh that he first met Col Dick Bunworth, who commanded the 33rd Battalion in the Congo.
Promoted to the rank of captain in 1942, he was made a commandant in 1944.
Apart from a stint with the Eastern Command at the Command Training Depot, he served for most of his career with the Western Command.
At the time he took command of the 32nd Battalion he held the rank of lieutenant colonel and was executive officer of the Western Command. Promoted to colonel in 1963, he retired in 1975. In the 1980s, with Lieut Gen Seán Mac Eoin and other retired officers, he campaigned for a National Day of Commemoration in place of Army participation in British Legion Remembrance Day commemorations.
For more than 50 years he lived with his family at Cloghan, Co Offaly. His interests included farming, current affairs and reading.
Predeceased by his wife Annie (née Bennett) and son Larry, he is survived by his daughters Eilish, Helen, Mary and Bernie and sons Mortimer and Michael.
Mortimer Joseph Buckley: born May 30th, 1915; died July 1st, 2008