Missing in Action: The 50 Year Search For Ireland's Lost Soldier

By Ralph Riegel and John O'Mahony

The story of Patrick Mullins, Ireland's lost soldier. On 15 September 1961, Trooper Patrick Mullins (18) was posted missing after the bloody ambush of an Irish UN convoy in a suburb of Elisabethville in the Katanga province of the Congo. The circumstances of that fateful day have remained shrouded in confusion and contradiction for five decades – until now.

Missing in Action reveals for the first time how an ill-equipped and heavily out-gunned Irish soldier fought with astonishing courage against heavily armed and ruthless Katangan gendarmes. Through interviews with the survivors and access to military intelligence sources, the truth about Trooper Mullins’ heroic last stand and ultimate fate can now be told.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mercier Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781856357371

Ralph Riegel

Ralph Riegel lives in Cork. He has worked as a journalist for several newspapers including The Cork Examiner, The Evening Echo, The Evening Herald and The Sunday Independent and is the southern correspondent for The Irish Independent. He is also a regular contributor to RTE, BBC and TV3 and to British newspapers including the (London) Independent and The Daily Telegraph.