Special Forces Brothers in Arms: Eoin & Ambrose McGonigal: War in the SAS & SBS

Product Information

This is an interesting and exciting first book by Mr. McGonigal. Its subject is his Grandfather, Ambrose McGonigal, known to many who served in Northern Ireland as one of the few Catholic Judges the IRA didn’t manage to murder, and Ambrose’s brother Eoin. These two brothers, both lawyers by profession, were early members of Special Forces in the British Army, Eoin in the SAS, and Ambrose the SBS... The author has done extensive research using official and unofficial documents, letters, conversations with those who were there, as well as family memories. https://web.archive.org/web/20100615033338/http:/www.belfastcathedral.org/visitors/virtual-tour/item/5/regimental-chapel/ With the disbandment of 12 Commando, Ambrose’s next posting was to “Layforce II” – a group of small -scale raiding forces brought together to conduct a series of high-risk, hit-and-run raids in Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) along the French coast and Channel Islands. During December 1943, reconnaissance operations were stepped up for “Operation Overlord” – this was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation to liberate German-occupied western Europe.

Full Book Name: Special Forces Brothers in Arms: Eoin and Ambrose McGonigal: War in the SAS and SBS Despite the demands of his large practice, McGonigal found time to take on many onerous and important positions in public life. In 1945 he was appointed chairman of the Irish railway wages board, and later he was chairman of the Joint Industrial Council as well as a member of the banks’ arbitration tribunal. His appointments to important bodies in the sensitive fields of industrial relations and salary fixing were a recognition of his sense of fairness and impartiality. Eoin Christopher McGonigal was the Son of John and Margaret McGonigal of Dun Laoghaire, Co.Dublin, Eire. His brother Ambrose McGonigal was also a member of the British Special Forces. [2]

The author has done extensive research using official and unofficial documents, letters, conversations with those who were there, as well as family memories. Much of the information in this article comes from the book and is reproduced with the author’s knowledge and blessing. In fact, I should declare an “interest” in that, at the request of Patric McGonigal, I wrote the Foreword to the book in which I congratulated him for “delivering a diligently-researched work that is beautifully illustrated with family photographs and other striking images.” Having been badly injured during a raid, McGonigal was rumoured to have been taken Prisoner of War but subsequently died of his wounds on the same day. His death prompting Blair Mayne to write to his Sister Frances "I am getting very tired of this Country, especially since Eoin landed a loser" [4] Burial place [ edit ] Light is also shone on the brothers’ close friend, the legendary Blair Mayne and the controversial decision to downgrade the award of his Victoria Cross. In 1975 Ambrose was appointed to the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council, when he was also knighted. His judicial role was so dangerous that he was forced to carry a gun under his robes and also to keep it at his bedside every night. Ambrose continued as a judge until his death from cancer on September 22 1979, aged 61. He left a widow and four children.

Highlight: 'This is an analysis of two very important soldiers that clearly originates from a place of passion and family pride. It is a must-buy for special forces fans.' During training, Ambrose broke his leg in a motorcycle accident while Eoin and Mayne soon joined up as members of the newly-formed 11 Commando and, later, the nascent SAS. However, Eoin died in November 1941, aged 20, from wounds received during the SAS’s earliest mission, Operation Squatter, in Libya. In 1922, the year that the Irish Free State came into existence, the family moved to Belfast, the home city of John McGonigal, who was one of no less than 17 siblings. Such a move had its challenges but John went on to become the chief crown prosecutor for Belfast and, in time, was elected the “father” of the Northern Irish Bar and appointed to the bench as a judge in Tyrone. This book covers a lot of the story of the founding of the SAS and its initial missions in Africa, which would make a volume by itself. It details the birth of the Commandos and the difficulties of establishing both organisations in the face of opposition from senior, established Military figures. The hard training, disappointments at cancelled operations, loss of morale, disbandments, formation of new units, all weave a fascinating tale of these two brothers’ lives, and make for a great read. This offering from Pen and Sword provides you with a good insight in the progression of two men’s lives during wartime.Ambrose Joseph McGonigal was born in Dublin on November 22 1917 – during the second half of the First World War and just a year after the Easter Rebellion that saw armed resistance to British rule. His younger brother, Eoin, was born three years later in 1920, the same year that the Government of Ireland Act was passed that resulted in the partition of the country the following year. However, Ambrose, also had a much older brother, Richard, who was 15 years his senior, and four sisters. On the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 McGonigal enlisted in the British army and was commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1940. He served with 12th commando (1943–4) and in the Aegean with the Special Boat Service (the naval counterpart of the Special Air Service) (1944–5). Awarded the MC in 1943, and a bar in 1944, he was mentioned in dispatches while serving with the Special Boat Service. Within days of officially being informed that Eoin was missing in action, Ambrose was married on December 19 1940 to Patricia “Paddy” Taylor, whom he had met while training in Ballymena. Having served with the RUR, Ambrose joined 12 Commando on May 21 1943, by this point looking for revenge over his brother’s death. 12 Commando was often simply known as the “Irish Commando” because so many of its members were Irish.

Special Forces Brothers in Arms: Eoin and Ambrose McGonigal: War in the SAS and SBS by Patric McGonigal is a 2022 book telling both brothers stories. The author Patric McGonigal story is based on two Irish brothers in Special Forces. He guides readers Ambrose was demobilized from the Army in the rank of major, completing his law studies and being called to the Bar in 1948. He became senior crown prosecutor for County Down in 1964 before being appointed a judge of the High Court in March 1968 – at the beginning of some of the worst times during the Troubles in the north of Ireland. Eoin was one of the first two officers selected from an Irish Regiment for Commando training in 1940, and the stories of his training in Arran alongside Mayne are highly entertaining. They were the closest of friends, and it’s intriguing to me that after the disappearance of Eoin on the first ever SAS parachute drop (in Libya), Mayne was incredibly distressed and angry, which may help to explain some of his later behaviours which have been discussed at length elsewhere. The book also sheds light on why Mayne’s VC award was downgraded. Ambrose, having carried out multiple coastal raids with the Commandos and winning two Military Crosses, later led operations for the SBS in Yugoslavia and Italy. Post-war, he had a short but notable legal career as a Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles.Justice McGonigal is mentioned in Tony Geraghty's The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence [5] as having been "forced to carry a gun under his robe" due to terrorism in Northern Ireland, which would claim the lives of at least five judges or justices in Northern Ireland.