Day: October 8, 2018

In 1906, 17 year old Patrick Donohue from Bolomore, Rathcoole, a farmer’s son, one of nine children, arrived in Lawrence, Massachusetts, looking for work. He probably never imagining that a few years later he would be hailed a hero in France, earning a Purple Heart and a Silver Star.

Paddy, as he was known, was a Mill Worker in Lawrence, enlisted in the United States Army in 1917 to fight in World War I. He was assigned to Company G, 328th Infantry, 82nd All American Division. After training, he was sent to Europe in May 1918. On October 8th, 1918, he was one of 17 American soldiers that were tasked with taking out German machine gun nests near Châtel-Chéhéry on the French-German border. Hugely outnumbered by the Germans, they broke through the German line took a large number of prisoners, but then came under huge gun fire and suffered casualties, Donoghue also being wounded, but they still managed to take out the machine gunners, causing the Germans to withdraw, allowing the Allies to get behind the German lines.

G Company was known to the public because of the 1941 movie, Sergeant York, starring Garry Cooper (see the movie clips below). Sgt.  York got the credit and Gary Cooper got the Academy Award. But as we know, one man alone was not responsible for the German defeat. Private Patrick Paddy J. Donohue of Lawrence was one of the unsung heroes of that battle.

[read more …] “WWI: Patrick J. Donohue of Bolomore”