Chaplain’s war bravery medal up for auction

A Military Cross awarded to an Irish chaplain for bravery during the Second World War goes under the hammer in Cork tonight.

Auctioneer Tom Woodward said that he hopes Fr Tom Duggan’s Military Cross — the first awarded to a chaplain during the war and which is being offered for sale in a lot with some of his other military medals — will remain in his native city.

“Our job is to realise the highest price but in an ideal world, it would be kept in Cork,” Mr Woodward said.

“Ideally someone would purchase it and loan or donate it to the Cork Museum. It is very much part of Cork history.”

A staunch nationalist from the parish of Ballyheeda in Ballinhassig, Co Cork, Fr Duggan volunteered as a chaplain and arrived in Flanders in 1917.

His postings were to the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, then the Munsters and finally to the Connaught Rangers.

He became a prisoner of war on March 22, 1918, during the German spring offensive, and was interned in Mainz until the armistice.

He was repatriated in November 1918 and was appointed secretary to Bishop Cohalan and later chaplain to the Bon Secours Hospital.

He was one of the leading peacemakers during the civil war and taught in Cork’s St Finbarr’s College and Seminary 1923 to 1939, before he joined the army again in September 1939. He was awarded the Military Cross and OBE for outstanding bravery during the Dunkirk retreat.

Towards the end of his life, he was posted to Peru to work on the missions, where he died in 1961 aged 71.

His Military Cross and medals have been put up for sale by members of the extended Duggan family and it is thought they could fetch between €5,000 and €10,000.

The auction will be streamed live online, with live internet bidding, from 6pm tonight at woodward.ie