‘Last sergeant standing’ recalls 1938 Treaty Ports handover

“I’ll be the last man standing,” declared retired Irish army sergeant Michael Kelly ahead of today’s 75th anniversary commemoration of the handover of the Treaty Ports from the British.

The sprightly 97-year-old is the last surviving soldier to have marched into the ports on the day they were handed back to Irish control.

Born in Mountrath, Co Laois, Michael joined the army in 1935 and, three years later, found himself in the Coastal Defence Unit.