Special Forces Brothers in Arms: Eoin & Ambrose McGonigal: War in the SAS & SBS

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Justice McGonigal is mentioned in Tony Geraghty's The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence [5] as having been "forced to carry a gun under his robe" due to terrorism in Northern Ireland, which would claim the lives of at least five judges or justices in Northern Ireland. Despite the demands of his large practice, McGonigal found time to take on many onerous and important positions in public life. In 1945 he was appointed chairman of the Irish railway wages board, and later he was chairman of the Joint Industrial Council as well as a member of the banks’ arbitration tribunal. His appointments to important bodies in the sensitive fields of industrial relations and salary fixing were a recognition of his sense of fairness and impartiality.

Eoin McGonigal has no known grave but is named on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt on Column 71. [5] In popular culture [ edit ]On the outbreak of the second world war in 1939 McGonigal enlisted in the British army and was commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1940. He served with 12th commando (1943–4) and in the Aegean with the Special Boat Service (the naval counterpart of the Special Air Service) (1944–5). Awarded the MC in 1943, and a bar in 1944, he was mentioned in dispatches while serving with the Special Boat Service. This book covers a lot of the story of the founding of the SAS and its initial missions in Africa, which would make a volume by itself. It details the birth of the Commandos and the difficulties of establishing both organisations in the face of opposition from senior, established Military figures. The hard training, disappointments at cancelled operations, loss of morale, disbandments, formation of new units, all weave a fascinating tale of these two brothers’ lives, and make for a great read.

Ambrose was demobilized from the Army in the rank of major, completing his law studies and being called to the Bar in 1948. He became senior crown prosecutor for County Down in 1964 before being appointed a judge of the High Court in March 1968 – at the beginning of some of the worst times during the Troubles in the north of Ireland. Light is also shone on the brothers’ close friend, the legendary Blair Mayne and the controversial decision to downgrade the award of his Victoria Cross.After demobilisation with the rank of major in 1946 McGonigal studied law as a bar student at QUB, and was called to the Northern Ireland bar in Michaelmas term 1948, aged thirty, having been exempted in view of his war service from the requirement to have a degree. Despite competition from contemporaries who had served in the war and were also called to the bar in its aftermath, he soon made his mark as a member of the junior bar, becoming a QC in 1956. As a silk he had a general common law practice, and in 1964 his standing as one of the leaders of the senior bar was confirmed by his appointment as senior crown prosecutor for Co. Down and election as a bencher of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland. Although judicial appointments at all levels in Northern Ireland had hitherto been made predominantly from Unionist politicians or supporters, when it was decided to increase the complement of the Northern Ireland high court by two additional judges, McGonigal was the obvious candidate to fill one of the new posts – the other being the attorney general E. W. Jones QC MP; they were appointed on 3 March 1968. On 28 May 1975 McGonigal was promoted to the court of appeal in Northern Ireland as a lord justice of appeal, and shortly afterwards was knighted and sworn of the privy council. As was the custom in Northern Ireland, after his appointment to the court of appeal he sat regularly at the first hearings of both civil and criminal cases. As the lord chief justice usually gave the leading judgment in the court of appeal, McGonigal had few opportunities to make a distinctive contribution to the development of the law, most of his judgments reported in the law reports being given at first instance. A sound and thorough lawyer, his judgments were rarely reversed on appeal. McGonigal was a member of many committees and public bodies in Northern Ireland, and served terms as a member of the senate of Queen's University and as a governor of St Mary's college of education. Keenly interested in the improvement of legal education, he made a significant contribution to the foundation of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at QUB in 1977, at the time a unique institution providing for the common vocational training of barristers and solicitors.