French and Irish Ex-Service Personnel gather in Paris to honour the Irish ‘ Wild Geese ‘.

A little bit of history was made in Paris on Tuesday April 3^rd. when French and Irish Ex-Service Personnel, for the first time , gathered together primarily to honour those Irish ‘ Wild Geese ‘ who fought in the Irish brigades of the French army. The gathering was arranged to coincide with the exhibition to honour the Irish ‘ Wild Geese ‘ currently taking place in the Hotel Nationale Des Invalides / Musée De L’ Armée, Paris.

Union Nationale Des Combattants ( UNC ) represented the French and Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann ( ONE ) represented the Irish. The ONE representatives were met by their UNC counterparts at Charles de Gaulle airport and escorted to the UNC headquarters at 18,rue Vézelay Paris.

The UNC like the ONE, is a charitable organisation founded for the purpose of giving assistance to Ex-Service Personnel who may be experiencing difficulties. Both sides availed of the opportunity to make presentations giving an overview of their respective organisations thereby learning from each other.

The ONE was represented by the Chief Executive Officer, Ollie Ó Connor, from Dundalk; National Chairman, Martin Coyne, from Mullingar and Director, Domhnall Mac Cárthaigh, from Cóbh,  who were accommodated at the Hotel De L’ Armée in Porte D’Italie Paris and generously entertained by their French counterparts.

Domhnall Mac Cárthaigh
( P.R.O. Southern Area Council of O.N.E. )