Larry recalls family history of service as he celebrates his 90th birthday with family
Thomas Lyons
This year is an auspicious one for Williamstown man Larry Poynton. Larry becomes a nonagenarian, marking his 90th year on this green planet.
In those nine decades he has packed in quite a lot of living. He's good craic, and his adventures have given him plenty to talk about. His yarns are engaging, entertaining and he's got a good sense of comic timing.
A deal of those stories are from his military life. After joining the Irish army in 1953, for the second time, he served his country for 43 years rising to the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major. The majority of that service was from his base in Columb Barracks.
He was a second generation army man. His father served in the British Army during World War I. Larry never heard about that conflict from his father, but neighbour, William Callan, would tell stories of the Great War.
“I first joined at 16 years of age. I was in Finner Camp with the FCA. I just joined the army there and I was sent down to Athlone. I trained for six weeks and joined the platoon in Mullingar. I had lied about my age, but my father went into the adjutant with my birth certificate. He took me out because of what he had seen during World War I. He thought I might be shot at that age,” Larry said.
Undeterred, the young recruit returned the following year and signed up again: “On the January 9, 1953 I went back again. There I was 17, boots on and ready to go. The bayonet on the Lee Enfield was taller than me, and I was nearly as thin as it.”
Larry's employer kept him close to his place of birth: “The first commanding officer I was with was a fella called Dinnie Cody, that was back in 1953. I served under every CO in Mullingar up to Jim Pendergast when I finished in '95, with the exception of the first one, JS Norton.
He was the original officer commanding the 4th Regiment when they were moved to Mullingar. It's amazing because in all that time the army was one of the big employers in Mullingar.”
Life in the army suited Larry, and one aspect of the career path particularly appealed to him: “My first active service was the Congo in '62. I volunteered for the Congo mission in '60. When the first battalion went out they sent me to the Curragh for eight months on a physical training instructor course. Best thing that ever happened to me. It changed my whole life.”
The active life of a soldier suited Larry. He developed his love of sporting activities and engaged in a range of disciplines. In 1969, he won four different titles (hammer, discus, javelin and shot putt) at the Command Championships. He also won an International discus competition involving soldiers from eight countries, while he served as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.
His first UN mission was in The Congo in 1962, followed by a number of missions in Cyprus (’64, ’65, ’66 and ’70) and the Lebanon in 1979.
Loyalty is a central plank of military service, but Larry's sporting loyalty was put to the test less than a decade after he joined the army: “I was very attractive,” he laughs.
“I think I was kidnapped, you know. I started off playing hurling with Delvin, but moved to Turin because of a girl up the road. She swayed my loyalty.”
Larry married Nuala and they moved back to his home place and raised their family of five sons (Michael, Matt, Patrick, Damien and Noel) and three daughters (Margaret, Jacqueline, Nuala). Over the last two decades Larry has buried three of his children: Margaret, Matt and Noel, and his wife Nuala passed away in 2013.
Larry has also seen a lot of his comrades in arms pass away: “I think I'm the oldest of that '53 era sergeants, the oldest fella left. I don't think there's anyone else my vintage from that era,” he said.
The army tradition has continued in the Poynton family. Larry has a son and a grandson in the Irish army.
He is proud of his family’s long history of military service. “We have a total of 30 UN missions,” Larry concluded.