1808- The Battle of Vimiero was fought in Portugal during the Peninsular War. The British-Portuguese army was commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, the French by Marshal Junot. The French lost and retreated to Spain.

1879- The Knock apparitions occurred. Mary McLoughlin, the Parish Priest’s housekeeper was the first to see the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John appearing at the wall of the parish church.

1914- The British Expeditionary Force, commanded by Field Marshal Sir John French, moved into Belgium. French’s father was born in Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon.

Births

1978- Alan Lee, footballer, was born in Galway. He plays for Ipswich.

Deaths

1986- Lt Aengus Murphy was killed by a road side bomb near At-Tiri, Lebanon whilst serving with 59th Irishbatt, UNIFIL. At 0700hrs, Lt Murphy led a minesweep from the UN post in At-Tiri village on the road north to Haddathah over Hill 880. Since the confrontation between UNIFIL and DFF troops in 1980 At-Tiri had become almost completely depopulated. The checkpoint on the road into the village had been closed down and DFF and IDF patrols could pass unhindered on the road to their position on one peak of the hill. The road entered a dip a few hundred metres north of At-Tiri which made it dead ground to DFF posts in the area. In addition the road was bordered by olive groves providing excellent cover to infiltrators. In the previous couple of weeks Irishbatt patrols had uncovered two devices planted on that road. This particular morning the patrol found another RSB. As Lt Murphy approached the device, which was made up of 150lb of explosive and a 120mm mortar bomb, it was detonated by command wire. Lt Murphy, aged 25, was killed immediately. Two other members of the patrol, Ptes Colm Moore (20) and Liam Molloy (also 20) were injured. The two men responsible were captured shortly after by another Irish patrol. One of them was a man well known to UNIFIL, he was Jewad Casfi from the village of Brashit in the Irishbatt AO. The two men were handed over to the Lebanese police but released almost immediately. Casfi continued his career as a bomb maker until 15th Dec 1988 when he was kidnapped by Israeli Shin Beth agents and whisked across the border into Israel. Amal was of the opinion that Irishbatt personnel turned a blind eye to the kidnapping as an act of revenge. Irish troops on the other hand believed that Casfi defected to the Israelis. In retaliation for the kidnapping three Irish soldiers were killed by a landmine in March 1989.



The area in which Lt Murphy died. The explosion occurred on the bend in the road. Photo taken from the UN post in At Tiri looking up to Hill 880. ON the left is the UN post on the hill, 6-41 and on the right is the compound manned by Israel's Lebanese allies, DFF 17.

The area in the photograph was also the scene of the helicopter crash on 6th August 1997 that claimed the lives of four Italian crewmen and Irishman Sgt John Lynch.

1988- Pte Patrick Wright died in Lebanon.

2007- Siobhán Dowd, author, died in England aged 47. Obituary at;

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/siobhan-dowd-462781.html

21st August 1920: Near Merlin Park on the outskirts of Galway city a policeman, Constable Foley, was killed and two others wounded in an ambush on the RIC. That evening members of the RIC burned houses in Oranmore in a reprisal against suspected republicans and others. They continued to attack suspected volunteers in the Oranmore area probably acting on the logical but wrong assumption that they were responsible for the ambush ,they weren`t . Incidentally members of the RAF were seen trying to put out the fires. Some months later a member of the IRA, Louis Darcy, was arrested in the railway station in Oranmore. He was tied behind a lorry and dragged to the point where Const Foley had been killed and shot there while "trying to escape." On the same day other policemen were killed in ambushes around the country including a detective called Hanlon shot in a pub in Kilrush and two killed in an ambush in Kildare.

21st August 1920 was a busy day.

RIC Sgt Daniel Maunsell is shot and killed as he returns from his home in Inchigeela to Macroom. A police patrol returning from the scene of the attack is itself ambushed resulting in the injury of a number of RIC men.

Detective Constable John Hanlon is shot dead in a shop in Moore St., Kilrush, Co Clare

RIC cycle patrol is ambushed near Oranmore, Co Galway at Red Bridge. One RIC man is killed (Con Martin Foley) and two are wounded (Sgt. Mulhearn and Con Brown).

An RIC patrol from Killen Barracks, Co Kildare is ambushed at Greenhills. One RIC is killed at the scene (Con Patrick Haverty) while another (Sgt Patrick Reilly) later dies from wounds received. The IRA is led by Thomas Harris.

RIC patrol is ambushed in Jocelyn St., Dundalk resulting in the death of one RIC man (Con Smyth Thomas Brennan) and the wounding of two others.

http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/august_1920.htm

Lestat wrote:

1879- The Knock apparitions occurred. Mary McLoughlin, the Parish Priest’s housekeeper was the first to see the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and St. John appearing at the wall of the parish church.

Wow, Didn't realise it was that long ago. 129 years?

I was there as a kid, school tour or else when I was in the Legion of Mary. The place was chockers, it certainly has a massive attraction, and while I would personally question the reason for the attraction, I think it is a great place for those who believe.