DUNDALK’S FREE NEWSPAPER Ger takes over Louth GAA hotseat Page 2
Conradh na Gaeilge keeping Irish language alive Page 4
Outcomers delight with €10k Coca-Cola grant Page 10
Wednesday, 4th October, 2023. Vol. 16, Issue 40 • 9A, Crowe Street, Dundalk, Co. Louth Tel: 042 932 0888. | Email: editorial@dundalkleader.com; advertising@dundalkleader.com
Tom calls time on historic bottle By Paul Byrne
A treasured piece of local history will go up for auction next week as a bottle of Hennessy Brandy from World War II goes under the hammer at Irish Whiskey Auctions. After the war, the French government gifted all soldiers with a bottle of Hennessy Cognac Brandy as a thank you and one of those bottles was gifted to former Dundalk resident Thomas O’ Connor who served with the United States Navy in the Allied fight against Hitler and the Nazis in World War II. Tom would later pass on that bottle to his eldest son, also called Tom, who says that he feels it is time
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to find a new home for the bottle. “I’ve had the bottle in my possession since 1980 and it is just sitting on a shelf and I feel now is the right time to find a new owner for it. My father was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1923 but moved our family to Ireland determined to prevent his sons getting drafted into the US Army to fight in the Vietnam war. He always said he didn’t want any of us to experience what he had during World War II. My mother was Irish so that’s why we emigrated to Ireland. “We went to live in Dundalk about 1977, having previously lived in Dublin for about 1½ years. Tom O’Connor with his father’s World War 2 bottle of Hennessy Cognac. Continued on Page 2
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