US delegation honours Ballinrobe navy hero

Pictured at the wreath laying ceremony at the statue of John King, Ballinrobe, were representitives from Hot Springs, Arkansas with members of the John King Committee: Anne Reid (Secretary) and Tom Tiernan (Founder), Ger Delaney (Family Research Centre),  Cllr John Caulfield, Leas Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council and Cllr Patsy O’Brien, Chairman of The Northern and Western Regional Assembly.

Anton McNulty

A DELEGATION of up to 20 American’s travelled to Mayo last week to lay a wreath at the statue of John King, an Irish-American naval hero and a native of Ballinrobe.
A large crowd gathered at the statue of the naval hero in the Cornmarket in Ballinrobe on Friday afternoon where the delegation from Hot Springs, Arkansas, laid the wreath to honour him.
Mr King is one of only 19 men to receive two Congressional Medals of Honour when he served in the US Navy and is considered an American military hero. He died in 1938 and is buried in the US military cemetery in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Every St Patrick’s Day, a goodwill group from Hot Springs honour John King at his graveside and as part of a trip to Ireland, they decided to visit Ballinrobe. The group also organised the first St Patrick’s Day Parade in Hot Springs in 2003 and had the distinction of being the world’s shortest parade – just 98 feet long.
“We are a goodwill group from Hot Springs visiting Ireland. We honour John King every year in advance of the St Patrick’s Day Parade, so it is fitting that we would lay a wreath at the foot of the statue that honours him in the centre of his hometown,” said Steve Arrison, the CEO of Visit Hot Springs and a member of the Hot Springs group that visited Ballinrobe.
The event was also attended by Leas-Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr John Caulfied, as well as local councillor Patsy O’Brien and relatives of John King. Ger Delaney from the Family Resource Centre was the MC on the day and outlined some of John King’s history to the crowd.
A native of Currabee, Ballinrobe, King was born in 1862 and enlisted in the US Navy in 1893 after emigrating to the US serving as a coal passer. He received two Congressional Medals of Honour for heroism.
The first was in 1901 following an accident in the boiler room of the USS Vicksburg which was at sea on May 29, 1901. King rushed to the dangerous scene and, in his words, ‘shut off the main stop of the boiler and smothered it up with blankets and towels’. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, with his citation for ‘heroism in the line of his profession’ signed by President Theodore Roosevelt.
The second occurred in 1909 following an accident which occurred to one of the boilers whilst he was serving aboard the USS Salem. Of this incident King recalled an ‘explosion in a boiler [which] carried away the tube and 12 men in the fire-room stood in danger of being scalded to death. I was in the fire-room, and turned on the blowers full force. There was 310 pounds of steam on at the time. I was badly scalded on the arms, but went back to the fire-room and stayed until the engineer of the watch found me, and sent me to sick bay. We got all the men out of the fire-room and no one was injured’.
In addition to receiving two Congressional Medals of Honour, John King was awarded numerous good conduct awards and in 1961, the US Navy commissioned a navy destroyer, which was named the USS John King in his honour. In 2010, a bronze statue of John King was unveiled in Ballinrobe.
The group laid the wreath at the foot of the statue and they were also given a tour of Ballinrobe and the surrounding area. In addition to Ballinrobe, the group were also planning to visit Waterford, Cork, Kinsale, Blarney, Shannon, Galway, Westport, Lough Corrib and Clonmacnoise.