US Navy’s ‘Five Brass’ to attend ceremony in Ballinrobe

US Navy’s ‘Five Brass’ to attend ceremony in Ballinrobe


Michael Commins

A MAYO man who is one of only nineteen people ever to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on two occasions is to be honoured in his hometown. A statue of US Naval hero John King will be unveiled in his native Ballinrobe on Saturday, September 5.
The US Embassy has confirmed that the US Navy’s “Five Brass” band will be flown-in to perform at the unveiling ceremony. The band will perform a programme of classical, jazz, pop and march numbers. Also attending will be members of the John King Association, an organisation of ex-servicemen who served on the Destroyer named after the distinguished Ballinrobe native.
The seven-foot bronze statue, which will be sited at The Cornmarket, will be officially unveiled by the Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen, TD. The statue has been sculpted by the world-renowned sculpture Rick Lewis.
“It was for his extraordinary actions in peacetime that made John King famous across America. King’s bravery first came to prominence when serving on the USS Vicksburg. Through an extraordinary act of heroism he saved his fellow sailors in the aftermath of an explosion in the ship’s boilers. For this he was presented with his first Medal of Honor in 1901 and a citation signed by President Theodore Roosevelt,” states Ger Delaney, one of the chief organisers behind the commemoration ceremony.
Eight years later, while serving on the USS Salem a similar accident occurred and again King put his life on the line and saved sailors from almost certain death. This won him his second Medal of Honor which he received from President William Taft.
“King returned to Ballinrobe on a number of occasions after he retired from seafaring and is still remembered by a few of the older residents. He was once described as “as fine a looking man as you’d see walking down the street - particularly when he had his long overcoat on”.
John King was born in Currabee on the outskirts of the town in 1862. He emigrated to America in April 1886. In 1893 he enlisted in the US Navy. Within a few years he saw action in the Spanish-America war and later in the Philippine-American war. King was 55 years old when he married Ballinrobe lady, Delia McKenna. Delia died in 1936 after which John went back to America. He died two years later following an accident.