New US Navy Destroyer To Be Named After Mayo Man Killed In Vietnam

13th March 2018

The USS Gallagher, after Lance Corporal Patrick Gallagher, will be the same class as the guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, pictured here in Chesapeake Bay Credit: US Navy Photo

The US Navy is set to name a new vessel after a Mayo man who served in the Vietnam War, as TheJournal.ie reports.

Patrick Gallagher emigrated from Ballyhaunis to the United States in 1962, joining the Marine Corps four years later as President Lyndon B Johnson escalated the American presence in Vietnam.

Lance Corporal Gallagher was killed in action in March 1967, less than a year after he was awarded the Navy Cross for his quick actions in saving fellow marines from a grenade attack.

Now the USS Gallagher, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, will carry the name of a man described as “an American hero”. TheJournal.ie has more on the story HERE.

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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