From messenger boy to anti-tank specialist! Michael Kelly, who will next Monday launch a book on his experiences as a soldier with the United Nations in the Congo in the 1960s, pictured with Ian Lucey at Lucey’s Butchers this week. Michael began work as a messenger boy on a bicycle, and went to join the army and become an anti-tank specialist. Photo, S. Murphy.
Mallow man Michael Anthony Kelly, an ex-serviceman who served in the Congo with the UN peacekeeping forces in the 1960s, has written a book a book on his experiences. ‘Congo, Jadotville, Siege Survivor – the Life Story of Michael Anthony Kelly’ will be launched at no. 70 Main Street (the premises of Ward’s Second-Hand Bookshop) on Monday week, 13th September, at 11am. To coincide with the launch of the book, an exhibition of memorabilia from the Congo will also be unveiled, and all are welcome to attend. Several men from Mallow and North Cork served on those early peacekeeping tours in the Congo, the first foreign missions by Irish Army servicemen, and this group of men took part in several major engagements, one of the most famous being the siege of Jadotville, which formed the basis for the Netflix film of the same name. Michael Anthony was one of the soldiers involved in that siege, and in the book he gives a detailed description of his experiences. When published, it will be available in local bookshops.