Back in 1993 the Irish army sent over around 100 troops with a Defence Force transport company to Somalia to assist in a UN mission after a vicious civil war broke out in the country. All the vehicles for the mission left from Clancy Barracks in Islandbridge, Dublin. Viv Collins was working in Clancy Barracks at the time as a member of the Defence Forces getting the vehicles and the logistics ready for the operation in Somalia.
They operated out there for a year in a peace enforcing mission to get food to the people in the towns and villages. During that time Viv put together scrapbooks of newspaper cuttings photographs, paperwork and letters from soldiers who were on the mission. The scrapbooks were in Viv’s wardrobe for thirty years. Last year was the 30th anniversary of the safe return of the Irish troops from Somalia which prompted Viv to take out the old scrapbooks and gave them to the soldiers who served in Somalia at a reunion last year.
Viv then planned to hand over his treasured scrapbooks to the UN museum in Arbour Hill. The scrapbooks were given to a friend of Viv’s who had served in Somalia who brought them on the train back to Drogheda where he lived. He had planned to deliver them to the UN museum in Arbour Hill the following day. However, disaster struck when the scrapbooks were left behind on the train as Viv’s friend departed at Drogheda. While the books were of no value to most people they are priceless and irreplaceable to the members of the Veterans of the Defence Forces.
Frantic calls where made to Iarnród Eireann to try and retrieve the precious cargo but it was beginning to look bleak after two weeks when no good news was forthcoming. Viv decided to have one last throw of the dice in an effort to retrieve his precious scrapbooks and contacted Joe Duffy’s Liveline Radio programme on RTE Radio 1 where the call was put out nationally on Monday afternoon.
Iarnród Eireann’s communication manager, Barry Kenny, heard the segment and immediately sent out an email to a number of stationmasters on the route the scrapbooks had passed through. Step forward Anthony Monaghan, stationmaster from Dundalk Train station who read the email and realised very quickly that he was in possession of the treasured scrapbooks.
“It was only the other day when I was going through the stuff in the lost property office that I saw the scrapbooks and I realised quickly that they were absolutely very valuable for somebody in the army. They were in a little hold all bag. What happens is the train travels up and down but luckily for Viv the train stopped in Dundalk for the night and we have our own cleaners rather than contract cleaners so our cleaners found the scrapbooks and left them in our lost property office.
We hoped that whoever owned them would come and look for them and thankfully that email came through from Barry asking about the scrapbooks which I knew immediately that we had in our possession. I’m delighted that we were able to return such an important and invaluable piece of memorabilia to Viv and hopefully one day I will get up to Arbour Hill to see them again in the museum,” stated Anthony.
According to a delighted Viv the scrapbooks will be handed over this week to the U.N museum.
“These books contained photos, newspaper cuttings and other documents relating to a Defence Force Transport mission to Somalia in 1993/94. These books are irreplaceable, of no value but worth everything to us as Veterans of the Defence Forces.
“A good friend last Friday suggested I contact Joe Duffy of RTE’s “Liveline” radio programme. I sent an E-Mail on Friday last, they contacted me today (Monday). I gave an interview live on air, and lo and behold, on air, the station master at Dundalk station contacted the programme to say he had the books. These will be returned this week and handed to the U.N. Museum at Arbour Hill.
“A very big thank you to Joe Duffy, the Station Master in Dundalk, but especially to my good friend who suggested contacting the programme,” concluded Viv.
