Patrick Joseph O'Hara

Patrick was born on 17 March 1883 in the parish of Templemichael. Little is known of his family, other than he had one uncle, Thomas, who lived in Ross's Yard (a.k.a. Coach Yard/Mail Coach Yard), off Main Street; a brother Michael in America, along with one sister and his mother, also supposedly in the US. Patrick married Mary Ann (a.k.a. Bridget) Glennon on 11 November 1911. They had one daughter, Mary Patricia, who was born 1913 in Carlow. Sgt O'Hara had a long military career prior to WW1, including just over 13 years with the Royal Engineers, and was a trained telegraphist; he originally enlisted in the Royal Irish Fusiliers at Longford in March 1901 and later served with the Connaught Rangers. Patrick served in the Boer War, where he lost his left eye. He completed his initial army service in May 1914, but re-enlisted in August 1914 at the outbreak of WW1. He died on 25 June 1915 and was recorded as being the first casualty of his company; he had only been deployed for 5 weeks.