William O'Callaghan (Irish Army officer)

Lieutenant General William "Bull" O'Callaghan, BSD (Irish: Liam Ó Céallachgáin;[2] 3 July 1921 – 26 December 2015) was an Irish Army officer.

William O'Callaghan
Native name
Liam Ó Céallachgáin
Nickname(s)"The Bull"
Born(1921-07-03)3 July 1921
Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland
Died26 December 2015(2015-12-26) (aged 94)[1]
AllegianceIreland
Service/branchIrish Army
Years of service1939–1987
RankLieutenant General
Commands heldUnited Nations Truce Supervision Organization (1978–79, 1986–87)
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (1981–86)
Battles/warsSecond World War
Lebanese Civil War
AwardsDistinguished Service Medal
Legion of Honour (France)
National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon)

Early life

O'Callaghan was born in Buttevant, County Cork,[3] and joined the Irish Defence Forces at age 17 in 1939.[1]

Military career

O'Callaghan graduated from the Military College at Curragh Camp, County Kildare. He is most notable for being the Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon from 1981 to 1986; a neutral United Nations peacekeeping force during the Lebanese Civil War.

O'Callaghan was a County Cork native who had the unique distinction of holding the two most important United Nations appointments in the Middle East during a particularly tumultuous period in the 1970s and 1980s, when he was the Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from February 1981 to May 1986 and the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) from April 1978 to June 1979 and again from May 1986 to June 1987, commanding multinational troops in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and Jordan.[1]

In an interview in April 1982 with United States magazine People,[4] with UNIFIL having suffered 145 combat casualties in its previous 4 years, 35 of them fatalities, O'Callaghan said: "Peacekeeping is not about firing shots. It's about not firing and stopping those who are. We must look for trouble at the 4 points of the compass, and then we look behind our backs."

Legacy

Irish cadets in training compete for an award named in his honour; the "Lt Gen William Callaghan Sword" is awarded to the cadet who displays the best tactical ability.[5]

Honours and awards

Lieutenant General O'Callaghan was a recipient of the: Distinguished Service Medal,[5] French Legion of Honour,[5][6][7] and Lebanese National Order of the Cedar.[5][6][7]

Personal life and family

O'Callaghan's son, Bill O'Callaghan, emigrated to the United States and became a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona in the 1980s, also becoming an Arizona state commissioner.[8]

O'Callaghan's grandson, Conor O'Callaghan (born 1983), was announced to be campaigning for Arizona’s Congressional District 1 in August 2023.[8]

References
  1. , Irish UNIFIL commander, Lieutenant General William O'Callaghan (1921–2015)
  2. Brian Mitchell's UNIFIL website http://www.unifil.ie
  3. McRedmond, Louis (6 December 1996). Modern Irish Lives: Dictionary of 20th-century Irish Biography. Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 9780717121984 – via Google Books.
  4. "On Lebanon's Embattled Border with Israel, An Irish General Strives to Keep the Peace: People.com". People. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  5. , Irish UNIFIL commander, Lieutenant General William O'Callaghan (1921–2015)
  6. Duggan, John P. (1991) A History of the Irish Army, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin
  7. "Irishman who held key Middle Eastern roles dies". 26 December 2015 – via www.rte.ie. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. Tom Lyons (11 August 2023), "Dublin-born Conor O'Callaghan made it on Wall Street. Now he is running for Congress in Arizona", The Currency, archived from the original on 11 August 2023, retrieved 11 August 2023, Conor O'Callaghan's grandfather was a famous Lieutenant General in the Irish army who served the UN in the Middle East....O'Callaghan's grandfather, he explains, was the late Lieutenant General William 'Bill' O'Callaghan, popularly known as the 'Bull' Callaghan. In its obituary, The Irish Times described his grandfather as a "formidable soldier who held the line in the Middle East" as force commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon from 1981 to 1986, and a twice chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (Untso) in the 1970s and 1980 where he commanded multinational troops in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan.
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