The Irish Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on 11 November 2016 in Eniss, County Clare, Ireland. This memorial honors 2,500 Irish citizens who served with the United States and allied services in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The names of 29 of these citizens are carved in the monument. Below the names are the words, “We express our heartfelt gratitude for the service and sacrifice of those above and to their families, loved ones and the Irish nation.” The dedication of the memorial follows four years of work from 2012 when members of the Ennis Town Council unanimously supported a proposal to erect the memorial.

          The first name on the memorial is Anthony P. O’Reilly and this is his story.

Anthony Paul O’Reilly was born in Galway, Ireland to Patrick Joseph O’Reilly and Mary Kate O’Shaughnessy on 1 June 1938. He had five siblings and grew up in Galway. His father died when Anthony was 17. Anthony left Galway for the United States where he enlisted in the U. S. Army. He became airborne qualified and was commissioned a lieutenant before he was assigned to Vietnam. On his 30^th birthday he was serving as commander of an infantry company during an operation near the Cambodian border. Below is the citation for the Distinguish Service Cross (DSC) that he earned.

A sister company was pinned down by an estimated battalion of Viet Cong firing small arms, machine guns, rockets and mortars from a well-fortified bunker complex. Lieutenant O’Reilly attempted to lead his force to the beleaguered unit but was stopped by the enemy’s barrage. Disregarding his safety, he crawled twenty-five meters toward the nearest bunker and hurled grenades into it which killed its two occupants and silenced its deadly stream of automatic weapons fire. He then sprang to his feet and rallied his men for an assault on the remaining fortifications. In fierce close combat the Viet Cong abandoned their emplacements and broke contact. On 3 June 1968 contact was made again. As his unit came under intense automatic weapons fire, Lieutenant O’Reilly quickly moved his troops on-line and assaulted the hostile positions. While deploying his men so they could effectively engage the Viet Cong bunkers with comparative safety, he was killed by a burst of enemy automatic weapons fire. First Lieutenant O’Reilly’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit,

and the United States Army.     

A friend posted this on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Tony was my Lt and my friend. He came to our unit when we were working the jungles in III Corp. When he was introduced to me, platoon machine gunner, he said how happy he was to meet another Irishman! I served under him during his time with us as his platoon sergeant. He deserved his DSC and more. This June will be 53 years since our time together ended in the Plain of Reeds. As I have for 53 years, I will take a shot of good Irish and remember.

Anthony O’Reilly is buried at New Cemetery in Galway, County Galway, Ireland.

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