Soldiers plan fundraisers 5,500km apart for maternity hospitals 

Sgt Eddie O'Brien, holding son Max, with Lt Jonathan Hughes, have organised a maternity hospital fundraiser. Picture: Michael Walsh 

Two soldiers, whose partners had complicated deliveries of babies, are planning coordinated fundraisers 5,550km apart to aid the hospitals where their children were born – and where one still remains.

Their unique fundraiser in Limerick is being joined with a simultaneous cash drive from around 100-plus troops stationed in Lebanon, where both soldiers were last year when the birth crises arose.