Description:

The dramatic true story of a brave young soldier who laid down his life to save a comrade, and the struggle to identify his burial place and repatriate his remains. On 15 September 1961, eighteen year old Trooper Patrick Mullins was posted missing after a bloody ambush of an Irish UN convoy in the Congo. During the fierce gun-fight, Mullins was killed and his body taken as spoils of war by the rebel militia. When Ireland finally ended its UN mission in the Congo Tpr. Mullins' body remained buried in an unknown grave. With the 50th anniversary of his death fast approaching, the Mullins family remains caught in the terrible nightmare of maintaining an empty grave at the foothills of the Galtee Mountains. This fascinating book describes Mullins' story, the struggle to find his body, and the difficulties in bringing it home. ** ### About the Author Ralph Riegel is the author of Hidden Soldier and Afraid of the Dark: The Tragic Story of Robert Houlihan. He is the southern correspondent of the Irish Independent and the Evening Herald. John O'Mahony is from Waterford and enlisted in the army in 1960 and served in the Congo with Patrick Mullins in the Armoured Car Group of the 35th battalion in 1961.