From the Archives: USS destroyer named after Mayo Vietnam war hero
By Tom Gillespie
'A 23-year-old Mayo man who flung himself on a live Communist grenade so that his comrades might live has been awarded the U.S. Navy’s highest award - the Navy Cross.'
This was the introductory paragraph on the lead story on the front page of The Connaught Telegraph on February 23, 1967.
It went on: He is Patrick Gallagher, a corporal in the U.S. Marines, and comes from Derrintogher, three miles from Ballyhaunis, where his parents still live.
Corporal Gallagher and three other marines were manning a defence post near the border of North Vietnam last July (1966).
Communist troops infiltrated the area and threw grenades at the marines.
Corporal Gallagher kicked the first grenade to safety. But a second landed between two of his comrades.
Gallagher, says an official citation, flung himself on the deadly grenade to absorb the explosion and saved the lives of his comrades.
“Miraculously no one was injured.”
Gallagher picked up the grenade and hurled it into a river.
Corporal Gallagher said in Da Nang on Sunday that he thinks he will become an American citizen.
He joined the Marines in New York, where he was working as a real estate salesman.
General William Westmoreland, Commander of all U.S. troops in Vietnam, awarded the cross and said: “It is a pleasure to pin this on your breast.”
Back in Ballyhaunis, Patrick never told his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Gallagher, that he was serving in Vietnam until he wrote home a few days ago.
His mother, Mrs. Mary Gallagher, said: “He did not tell us until a few days ago that he was serving in Vietnam - and that he had won the Navy Cross.
“We are very proud of him - but now all we want is to have him home.”
Patrick, in a letter to his parents, said: “I hope you won’t be too mad at me for the news I got for you.
“When I was at home last year I had my orders for Vietnam when I went back to the U.S.
“I have been in Vietnam since last April and I will be leaving here in about 60 days. Now don’t get worried. Everything is going to be fine and I am enjoying it very much.
“I was afraid you might worry too much. I made my aunt and sister in New York promise they would not tell you I was there.
“I had planned on not telling you until I got back to the U.S., but last July, when my battalion was involved in some fighting, I was recommended for the Navy Cross for outstanding bravery. It was not much but they made a big thing of it.
“Today (January 28) the General told me that Washington has approved of the honour and that you were likely to be notified so I thought I would let you know before you read it in the Press.
“I hope you will be proud of me.”
Five years ago (1962), after receiving his Group Certificate in the local vocational school, Patrick emigrated to Long Island, New York, where he stayed with his aunt, Mrs. Robert Burns.
He joined the Marines 15 months ago but it was only when he came home on a three-week holiday last February that he told his parents.
Patrick has two sisters, Mrs. John Walsh (24) and Mrs. W. Goldstein (21), living in Long Island, a brother, Peter (19), in Birmingham, and a brother, Martin (14), and three sisters Teresa (16), Rosaline (8) and Pauline (3) at home on the 70-acre farm at Derrintoher.
TRAGEDY
However, the conferring of the Navy Cross was quickly overshadowed just over a month later when Patrick was shot dead while on patrol in Da Nang on March 30, 1967.
In Ballyhaunis, plans were laid for his homecoming but on the day he was due home they buried him instead.
The American Embassy in Dublin contacted Fr. Rushe, parish priest in Ballyhaunis, who informed Patrick’s parents following Sunday Mass.
His remains were sent back to Ireland accompanied by US Marine Sergeant Gerry Moylan and there was a poignant scene as Sergeant Moylan laid a wreath on the grave and then presented the American flag, which draped his coffin, the Navy Cross insignia and the citation to Patrick’s mother, Mary.
Among those who wrote to the Gallagher family after their son’s death was Bobby Kennedy. He quoted Winston Churchill, who said ‘courage is rightly esteemed as the first of all human qualities because it is the one that guarantees all others’.
The Senator added: “This courage Cpl. Gallagher gave to all of us. To him and to his family are due the thanks of a humbly grateful nation.”
CHRISTENING OF SHIP
Towards the end of 2013 a group of Irish men had been discussing Cpl. Gallagher at Mr. Donnelly’s Trinity Hall pub in Dallas, Texas. In the company was pilot Martin Durkan from Ballyhaunis who supplied details of Cpl. Gallagher’s story from an article in The Irish Times.
They decided to launch an online petition to have a US Navy ship named in his honour. The website ‘Help Us Honor A Marine Corps Hero’ at www.patrickgallagherusmc.info was sponsored by Mr. Donnelly, originally from Malahide in Co. Dublin. When 10,000 signatures were secured a political campaign then began in the US.
In July 2024, the christening of the USS Patrick Gallagher - a guided missile destroyer – took place at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine. The ceremony was attended by Mr. Gallagher’s sisters Pauline, Teresa and Rosemarie as well as his brother Peter.
Construction on the ship started in 2018, costing $2.5 billion. The keel laying for the vessel took place in Bath, Maine, on the 55th anniversary of his death.