Fallen soldier lauded for ‘supreme sacrifice’

Businessman Don Tidey has paid tribute to a fallen soldier who made the “supreme sacrifice” while assisting in his rescue from a gang of Provisional IRA kidnappers almost 30 years ago.

Private Patrick Kelly — the first Irish soldier to die in active service on home soil since the Civil War — was posthumously awarded the Military Star at a ceremony in Co Westmeath yesterday.

The 35-year-old from Moate, Co Westmeath, died, alongside trainee Garda Gary Sheehan, 23, when an IRA gang opened fire and threw a grenade at them in the Derrada Woods, Co Leitrim, on Dec 16, 1983.