Ambush in the Congo


Seamus McDermott
Interviewed for MAOHP - 13/10/2016
Reference Code: IE_MA_MAC_006_MAOHP_008_B
Location(s): Elizabethville Jadotville
Length: 5.01

In this clip, Corporal Seamus McDermott remembers an ambush in the Congo in 1961. He remembers that on the return to Elizabethville, their convoy was ambushed when a Swedish armoured personnel carrier was bombed and machine gun fire opened up on their bus from the side of the road. He describes the ambush which occurred when they were returning to their camp from attempting to get to Jadotville (where Commandant Pat Quinlan and his men were under siege). Corporal McDermott describes the injuries which were sustained by both the Irish soldiers and Gurka Indian soldiers during the ambush.


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