‘There are medals like this in closets all over Ireland’

Volunteers behind a new museum say they hope to tell the remarkable stories here of the US military’s bravest Irish heroes.

The Irish Veterans group said they are delighted to have been loaned an Irishman’s 120-year-old US Medal of Honor for display in its exhibition space at The Glen, Kinsale, Co Cork.

The medal, one of the few on display outside the US, was received by Mayo-born Michael Gibbons for heroism under fire during a special mission off Cuba during the 1898 Spanish-American War.