A GROUP of Irish soldiers, who were wrongly branded cowards in a largely forgotten battle in the Congo, are to be commemorated by the state after a 44-year-fight to have their bravery recognised.

A report, to be published by the Department of Defence, will exonerate the men of wrongdoing and recommend that their efforts be officially recognised.

The soldiers, members of the 35th battalion of the Western Command, endured a gruelling six-day fight against Belgian-led forces in the Battle of Jadotville while on United Nations duty in 1961. They held out against Katangan fighters despite being outnumbered by at least 20 to 1 and depleted supplies.

Despite their bravery, they were accused of cowardice after Lieutenant-Colonel Pat Quinlan, their commanding officer, eventually took a decision to surrender. He had been given an ultimatum from the Katangan forces, who had breached a ceasefire, and decided to give up to save his men.

For years, members of the 150-strong command have campaigned for their heroism to be acknowledged and for questions to be answered about why they were put in a dangerous position. Despite the odds stacked against them, they managed to kill 300 Katangans without sustaining any casualties themselves. When they returned home, however, they were taunted by fellow soldiers.

Until this year, when Michael Smith, the then minister for defence, agreed to re-examine their role, they had had little success. The review came after the town council in Athlone, where many of soldiers were based, took the unusual step of writing to the minister following submissions from a number of soldiers and an extensive media campaign.

A board of military officers was asked by Lieutenant-General Jim Sreenan, the chief of staff of the defence forces, to investigate the case and produce a report, which has now been passed to Willie O’Dea, the current minister for defence.

“The report exonerates all the men involved. I will be publishing it soon and then we will decide how to commemorate these men,” said the minister.

The outcome has been welcomed by John Gorman, 61, a veteran who has led the campaign to have their reputations restored.

Fighting back tears this weekend, he said he was “thrilled” but upset that many of the men were no longer alive.

“This is the best news I have heard in my lifetime,” he said. “We were badly treated. The record was never put straight, our story was never told properly and the truth about what we did was ignored. A lot of men are now in their graves not knowing that they were supposed to have done wrong.”

Austin Berry, the mayor of Athlone, said: “This goes some way to make up for what happened to these men. It’s what they deserve. A medal should now be struck and each man and the families of those who have died should be publicly presented with it.”

About 150 Irishmen from A company of the Western Command fought the battle against more than 4,000 Belgian-led Katangan forces.

John Gorman was just 17 at the time. He said: “There were two Swedish companies there before us. Their commander pulled them out. The Irish B company was also withdrawn.

“At the same time, A company was put in and there are questions to be answered as to why. We had old second world war guns and we were bombed from the air. Our supplies, including bullets, were running out and we had no water.”

“We had killed 300 of the enemy and were hopelessly outnumbered. If this hadn’t happened, all our lives would have been lost.”

All 150 Irish soldiers were later released. Quinlan has passed away and many of the survivors are now in their eighties and nineties.

Dinny McGinley and Denis Naughten, the two Fine Gael deputies who joined the campaign, welcomed the move.

O’Dea is to release the report on his return from a visit to Irish troops working for the UN in Liberia. The minister is to fly out tomorrow along with President Mary McAleese.

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