Home The Saga Archives Wild Geese Shops Bookstore Classifieds Heritage Key Dates Events WGT Forum Gallery Lands of Exile Living History Resources Bibliography Guest Book Contact WGT About Us PROUD SPONSORS OF WGT: AST Press, presenting "Campaigning With the Irish Brigade: John Ryan, 28th Massachusetts," an extraordinary look into the life of an enlisted man in one of the hardest-fighting regiments in the Union Army. Military Heritage Tours: Your guided tour to Ireland's Battlefields and Military Heritage. For the latest headlines about "Bloody Sunday" and Northern Ireland, visit Newshound, at Nuzhound.com VISIT THESE OTHER FINE IRISH SITES: Tara Hall, Headquarters for 'Fighting 69th' and Irish Brigade Memorabilia, online at Fighting69th.com. Irish Culture and Customs: Traditions, folklore, and more. Get an "Irish Brigade" t-shirt or sweat shirt with the graphic shown above from the Wild Geese Today's Irish Brigade Shop Derek Warfield tells the story of 1798 in song in Liberte '98: Songs & Ballads of 1798 The Irish have fought in every corner of the globe and in nearly every uniform. Read their stories in A Military History of Ireland. Get an "Irish America: The Fenian Tradition" shirt, or other WGT item at the Wild Geese Today Store

AST Press proudly presents this unique Civil War memoir ... E-mail us for more info. 'The Fighting 69th' at 150: Part 1, From 1851 to 1865 'The Fighting 69th' at 150: A Brief History Two world wars brought more battle streamers to the regiment, which, though Irish at heart, has in recent years become as diverse as the city it calls home. PART 2 IN A TWO-PART SERIES By Lt. Col. Kenneth H. Powers, NYARNG (Ret.) Nassau County Museum Collection The 69th Regiment drills in Camp Black, on Long Island's Hempstead Plains. Click for a close-up view. It was Confederate General Robert E. Lee who gave the 69th the colorful nickname it has carried so proudly. Learning, at Fredericksburg, that the 69th New York was among the Army of the Potomac troops facing the Army of Northern Virginia that day, Lee nodded and commented, "Ah yes. That Fighting Sixty-Ninth." The principal influence on mid-19th century American music was Irish. Two recent CDs have captured much of the music and spirit of the Irish soldier of the period of the American Civil War, THE IRISH VOLUNTEER, by David Kincaid, and SONS OF ERIN, by Derek Warfield of The Wolfe Tones. Derek Warfield has also written an excellent companion book, IRISH SONGSTER OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. During the War with Spain in 1898, the Governor requested each Regimental Commander to submit a list of those who would volunteer for Active Service. Colonel Edward Duffy answered immediately that the 69th volunteered to a man, to serve any place in the world where its services might be required. The quick cessation of hostilities found the 69th at a port of embarkation in Florida. THE WORLD WAR University of Toronto Postcard photo of Sgt. Joyce Kilmer, 69th New York, France 1918. Called into active service for the Mexican Border Campaign in 1916, and again in 1917, upon entry of the United States into the First World War, the 69th Regiment was temporarily redesignated as the 165th Infantry and chosen by then Colonel Douglas A. MacArthur to represent New York in a specially created shock division that was being formed from the cream of the National Guard, the famed Forty-Second (Rainbow) Division. As such, the 69th saw some of the bitterest fighting -- Lorraine, Champagne, Marne, Ainse-Marne, St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. On the Ourcq River (known to the Regiment as the "River O'Rourke"), the 69th put up what has been called one of the greatest fights of that terrible war when it forced a crossing without artillery support and, fighting alone on the enemy's side of the river, with its flanks unsupported, engaged a Prussian Guards Division and forced it to retire. It was an incredible feat of arms, but a mere incident in the chronicle of glory that is the saga of the Fighting 69th. U.S. Army Signal Corps Colonel "Wild Bill" O'Donovan, left, and Father Francis Duffy, chaplain of the 69th New York, returning from France after World War I. Medals of Honor from World War I were awarded to Michael A. Donaldson, William J. Donovan and to Richard W. O'Neill. Colonel "Wild Bill" Donovan later became head of the United States Army's Office of Strategic Services -- the OSS -- in World War II. Other famous Americans who served with the 69th in the First World War were Father Francis Patrick Duffy and the beloved poet Joyce Kilmer, whose poem "Rouge Bouquet" is still a part of the ritual of the 69th and of its Veteran Corps. Veterans of the Regiment, including Jeremiah O'Leary (also of Clan na Gael) and Alexander Anderson (later 13th Colonel of the 69th and a Major General in World War II, who is reputed to have secured the first Thompson submachine guns for the Irish Republican Army) would play significant roles in the cause of Irish freedom, particularly during the Irish War for Independence (1919-1921). WAR IN THE PACIFIC National Archives The 165th Infantry attacks the Japanese on Makin Island. Photo by Jim Bushemi, of Yank Magazine. Click for a close-up view. In 1940, the 69th was again called for service to the nation and, during the four years that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor, saw action on Makin Island, on Saipan and on Okinawa with the 27th ("New York") Division in the Pacific. It was during the last of these campaigns that Company "F" was presented with the Distinguished Unit Citation, and the Regiment's seventh Medal of Honor was awarded to Sergeant Alejandro R. Ruiz of Company "A" for gallantry in action. During World War II both a Regimental Commander and a Regimental Chaplain were killed in action: Colonel Gardiner Conroy on Makin and Father Lawrence Lynch on Okinawa. A GREEN FLAG On April 10, 1947, the 69th again resumed its place as a unit of the New York National Guard. Its headquarters are in the old Armory at 26th Street and Lexington Avenue, its home since 1906. Officially resuming its designation as the 69th Regiment of New York, the 69th sent its "Second Color" green flag from the American Civil War as a gift to the people of Ireland, in recognition of its Irish roots; the flag was presented by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on behalf of the Regiment, in 1963, and now hangs in Leinster House, the parliament building in Dublin. MORE WGT COVERAGE OF FIGHTING 69TH: The 69th Raises the Flag Near Ground Zero Called Into Action at World Trade Center "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked," like their Irish wolfhound mascots, the 69th Regiment of New York, part of the 42nd ("Rainbow") Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard, together with the Veteran Corps, 69th Regiment, continue to provide the military escort to the Irish societies that constitute the New York Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Leading the way in 2001 was Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey J. Slack, Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry (Mechanized), accompanied by Pipe Major Joe Brady, Regimental Piper of the Fighting 69th. "GARRYOWEN!" Lt. Col. Ken Powers, a former officer in the 69th, is the unit's regimental historian. RELATED LINKS: Medal of Honor citation for the 69th New York's Alejandro Renteria Ruiz, from Home of Heroes. Selected Poetry of Joyce Kilmer, from University of Toronto "'Fighting 69th' Traditions are Alive and Well," Guard Times, March-April '98 Electronic Edition. New York Army National Guard Home Page Company D, 1st Battalion 69th Infantry (Mechanized) Joe Hourigan's "History of the Fighting 69th" Company A, 69th New York Volunteers Re-enactment Unit 155th New York Volunteer Infantry Reenactment Regiment, Inc. (Corcoran's Legion) This page was produced by Gerry Regan, with research assistance from Joe Hourigan and Liam Murphy. Are you one of The Wild Geese? Show the world with a hat, shirt, or other item displaying one of these Wild Geese graphics. Wild Geese Today Logo Irish America: The Fenian Tradition Wild Geese Harp Flag Derek Warfield tells the story of 1798 in song in Liberte '98: Songs & Ballads of 1798 (A portion of your purchase price will help support "The Wild Geese Today.") 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