The Irish soldier has never been a stranger to fighting the enemy with the odds stacked against him.
This is their story..
This was to be no Srebrenica; though cut off and surrounded, the men of Jadotville held their ground and fought.
The men of A Company found their morning mass parade interrupted, and within minutes they went from holding rosaries to rifles as they entered the world of combat.
On September 13th, 1961, the bright morning air of Jadotville was shattered by the sound of automatic gunfire.
It fell to A Company to protect those who would later turn against them.
Led by Commandant Pat Quinlan, A Company found themselves tasked with protecting the European population at Jadotville, a small mining town in the southern Congolese province of Katanga.
Others were experienced professional soldiers but were still not prepared for the action that was to take place.
They had never heard a shot fired in anger.
Some of the troops were teenage boys, their army-issue hobnailed boots still unbroken.
For many it would be their first trip outside their native shores.
The men of A Company, Thirty-Fifth Irish Infantry Battalion, arrived in the Congo as a United Nations contingent to help keep the peace.
In September 1961, another chapter should have been written into the annals, but it is a tale that lay shrouded in dust for years.
The notion of charging into adversity has been a cherished part of Ireland\'s military history.
The Irish soldier has never been a stranger to fighting the enemy with the odds stacked against him
