Fr Neil Collins recalls Columban martyr Fr Jack O’Brien who served as a chaplain during the D-Day landings in World War II and was subsequently killed during the Korean War.
John P. O’Brien was born in Donamon, Co Roscommon on 1st December 1918. He wrote to Fr John Blowick, Director of the Columban Fathers, on 5th June 1936:
Dear Revd Father,
I am sitting for matriculation in a few weeks and I intend, if successful, to enter Dalgan College as a student in preparation for the priesthood.
John was successful, became a probationer in the Columbans in September 1936, and was ordained a priest on 21st December 1942. Since World War II prevented him from going to the foreign mission, he volunteered as a military chaplain and in October 1943 reported to Fr Michael O’Dwyer, the Columban Superior General:
I have received word from Mons J Coghlan regarding my application as chaplain. I have to report in Northern Ireland on 2nd November.
Fr Jack O’Brien on the day of his ordination on 21st December 1942 giving his blessing to the ordaining prelate, Bishop John D’Alton who was, at the time, coadjutor Bishop of Meath. He would later become Archbishop of Armagh.
John was attached to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles and went ashore in Normandy with them on D-Day, 6th June 1944. He was pleased to find that most of the men were Catholics “and very good ones too”. In August he reported that Columban Patrick McMahon was killed in France, and on 4th November described the campaign in France, Belgium and Holland:
My battalion has been in action continually since D-Day. They have been through the heaviest fighting in France and also in Holland. Our casualties have been very heavy indeed and I need not tell you that there are very few of the original lot left. As for myself during this period I have been very lucky. The men all say I have a charmed life and say that I must be ‘well in’ with my boss.
In March 1945 his Columban ‘boss’, Michael O’Dwyer, instructed him to obtain his release from the army, but younger men like him were requested to serve a further year or even two years. He stayed with the Royal Ulster Battalion in Germany. They were transferred to Egypt in October and then to Palestine. He told O’Dwyer:
Omaha Beach in Normandy, France after D-Day in 1944. Photo: Shutterstock.
The political situation at the moment here is very tense and the possibilities of widespread acts of terrorism, during the coming months, is felt everywhere. So far our troops here have met very little trouble. But there is an atmosphere of death everywhere. I am very happy here as I shall probably never get an opportunity again of visiting the Holy Places.
It wasn’t until 31st May 1948 that Jeremiah Dennehy, the Superior General, appointed him to Mokpo in Korea. He left home on 20th February 1949.
World War II’s Operation Overlord or D-Day Landing on 6 June 1944 in Normandy. Image: Shutterstock.
The outbreak of the Korean War on 25th June 1950 found him in Mokpo with Monsignor Pat Brennan and Fr Tom Cusack. He stayed with them when North Korean forces captured the town on 24th July and all three were imprisoned in Kwangju. Their captors put three US soldiers in the cell in August.
One, Lieutenant Alexander G. Makarounis, remembered how the monsignor would encourage Jack to do an Irish jig or sing a song. He had a good voice and the way he sang Bing Crosby’s hit ‘Far Away Places’ “made you forget you were cooped up in a prison cell and sent your thoughts flying home”.
A South Korean man who lost his family and possessions during the Korean War. Photo: Shutterstock.
In August thirty-two prisoners, including the priests and the three soldiers were put in a broken-down truck to be transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp near Seoul. The truck broke down completely seven miles from Daejon and the captives were forced to march at a very fast pace towards the city. Jack helped the wounded Makarounis.
At the city they were separated. The lieutenant regretted that, “We never got a chance to say goodbye to the missionaries.”
On 15th September, General Douglas McArthur led a UN army ashore at Inchon. Seoul was captured four days later. Northern Korean forces retreated to avoid being surrounded. Before leaving Daejon they massacred their prisoners. It is presumed that all three priests were killed on the night of 24th September 1950.
Fr Neil Collins was ordained in 1962 and served on mission in the Philippines. He is History Co-ordinator for the Columbans and has published a number of books including, A Mad Thing to Do – A Century of Columban Missions (1916- 2016).
Published in the July/August 2024 issue of the Far East magazine. Please subscribe and support Columban missionaries. See: https://columbans.ie/far-east-magazine
