Irish Victoria Cross recipient remembered 140 years later

A FORGOTTEN war hero, John Sullivan of the Crimean War, had his final resting place marked on Saturday July 6th in Nohoval graveyard after 140 years.

Bantry born O’Sullivan was awarded both the Victoria Cross and the Order of the Legion d’Honneur by the French government for his bravery during the Crimean War of 1853 to 1855.

The former Royal Navy seaman’s final resting place has remained something of a mystery until local historian Fergal Brown joined in the search.

‘Initially, it was thought that O’Sullivan was buried in Glasnevin, until Shane McCormack from the Victoria and George Cross Association discovered this assumption to be inaccurate,’ said Fergal. ‘Then we started looking properly and discovered, in an obscure newspaper report on the funeral, that he was buried in Nohoval. Further land registry documents showed where he had lived in Ballindeasig.’

It is believed that O’Sullivan bought a farm in the area following his discharge from the Royal Navy, but not before he acquired another citation for bravery when he jumped overboard to save a fellow seaman who had fallen into the water.

In 1884, O’Sullivan committed suicide in Nohoval to which Fergal attributes to possible PTSD acquired during his service on the Crimean Peninsula.

The loss of his final resting place points to the nature of his death, with his body interred in the Protestant graveyard as he would have been denied access to the Catholic cemetery.

In addition to local clergy who a attended the ceremony, they were joined by the Cork branch organisation of ex servicemen of the Irish Defence Forces, Cork Branch Royal British Legion and M Josselin Le Gall, honorary French consul based at Cork.