POIGNANT OCCASION AS WOMAN DIES BEFORE LAUNCH OF BOOK ON HER WAR HERO FATHER
Poignant occasion as woman dies before launch of book on her war hero father
A LOCAL woman who was due to unveil a book which chartered the life of her late father as a prisoner-of-war during World War Two was poignantly buried on the day of its launch.
Fifty-five-year-old Kate McGeehan, who battled cancer for seven years, had championed the story of her father Patrick McCrystal's British army past, which he hid from family and friends for more than half a century.
The idea of the book came to fruition when a niece of the late Mrs McGeehan's, Mary McCartan, decided to pen the biography entitled, 'The Long Road to Freedom', after the family discovered Mr McCrystal served with distinction during the Second World War.
The revelation came movingly as another daughter of the former army serviceman. Geraldine Breslin, was killed in the Omagh bomb atrocity of August 15,1998, aged 43.
Hailing from Beragh, just outside Omagh, Mr McCrystal who passed away in January of this year, kept his military service a secret from those he was closest to. The biography entitled, 'A Long Road to Freedom' was penned by Mrs McGeehan's niece, Mary McCartan, and was launched at the Living History Park between Omagh and Gortin.
It tells the story of how most men returning from World War Two never spoke about the haunting experiences they encountered and instead chose to close that part of their past and move into a new area of their life. The young army men returning after the war, particularly in Northern Ireland, were forced to bury their history even further and completely deny it for their own safety.
Mr McCrystal was one such man who arrived home alive, but with a story of horror. However, he locked that story inside for S3 years before deciding to reveal it.
The culmination of the book is Mr McCrystal's first hand experience of a lifetime of war through the eyes of one man, who has seen the devastation of some of the most gruesome attacks on civilisation in the 20th Century.
Mr McCrystal found himself in Malta in 1940 trapped in the most bombed place in world history. After surviving the Siege of Malta he ended up in the frontline as the Germans slaughtered British troops on Leros. As a prisoner of war, he helped bury the tens of thousands of German civilians killed in Dresden by Allied attacks.
However, after returning home to peaceful normality, war found him again in 1969 and after raising a family through the Northern Ireland troubles, heartache and tragedy once again struck as Mr McCrystal suffered the loss of his daughter in the Omagh bomb 13 years ago.
Speaking about the book, its author, Ms McCartan, said: "On the day of Geraldine's wake, a man called Walter Pancock, who turned out to be one of Mr McCrystal's comrades from the Royal Irish Fusiliers 2nd battalion called to the house. Nobody knew about his war record.
"He had an army load of medals but as soon as he came home, they were hidden away."
However, once the truth was revealed Ms McCartan added how Mr McCrystal was keen to have his story told.
'A Long Road to Freedom' is now available in all local shops. It is also available from Authorhouse.com, Amazon.co.uk, Waterstones.com and other international online bookstores.
A LOCAL woman who was due to unveil a book which chartered the life of her late father as a prisoner-of-war during World War Two was poignantly buried on the day of its launch.
Fifty-five-year-old Kate McGeehan, who battled cancer for seven years, had championed the story of her father Patrick McCrystal's British army past, which he hid from family and friends for more than half a century.
The idea of the book came to fruition when a niece of the late Mrs McGeehan's, Mary McCartan, decided to pen the biography entitled, 'The Long Road to Freedom', after the family discovered Mr McCrystal served with distinction during the Second World War.
The revelation came movingly as another daughter of the former army serviceman. Geraldine Breslin, was killed in the Omagh bomb atrocity of August 15,1998, aged 43.
Hailing from Beragh, just outside Omagh, Mr McCrystal who passed away in January of this year, kept his military service a secret from those he was closest to. The biography entitled, 'A Long Road to Freedom' was penned by Mrs McGeehan's niece, Mary McCartan, and was launched at the Living History Park between Omagh and Gortin.
It tells the story of how most men returning from World War Two never spoke about the haunting experiences they encountered and instead chose to close that part of their past and move into a new area of their life. The young army men returning after the war, particularly in Northern Ireland, were forced to bury their history even further and completely deny it for their own safety.
Mr McCrystal was one such man who arrived home alive, but with a story of horror. However, he locked that story inside for S3 years before deciding to reveal it.
The culmination of the book is Mr McCrystal's first hand experience of a lifetime of war through the eyes of one man, who has seen the devastation of some of the most gruesome attacks on civilisation in the 20th Century.
Mr McCrystal found himself in Malta in 1940 trapped in the most bombed place in world history. After surviving the Siege of Malta he ended up in the frontline as the Germans slaughtered British troops on Leros. As a prisoner of war, he helped bury the tens of thousands of German civilians killed in Dresden by Allied attacks.
However, after returning home to peaceful normality, war found him again in 1969 and after raising a family through the Northern Ireland troubles, heartache and tragedy once again struck as Mr McCrystal suffered the loss of his daughter in the Omagh bomb 13 years ago.
Speaking about the book, its author, Ms McCartan, said: "On the day of Geraldine's wake, a man called Walter Pancock, who turned out to be one of Mr McCrystal's comrades from the Royal Irish Fusiliers 2nd battalion called to the house. Nobody knew about his war record.
"He had an army load of medals but as soon as he came home, they were hidden away."
However, once the truth was revealed Ms McCartan added how Mr McCrystal was keen to have his story told.
'A Long Road to Freedom' is now available in all local shops. It is also available from Authorhouse.com, Amazon.co.uk, Waterstones.com and other international online bookstores.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/2018
Published Date: 08-Sep-11
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