An Irish-born U.S. Army sergeant who was killed while helping save his comrades during the Korean War is finally making his last journey home to Co Tipperary after 76 years.
Sergeant Thomas J. “Tom Jo” O’Brien, from Emly, Co. Tipperary was just 23 when he lost his life in North Korea on October 26th, 1950. He had emigrated to New York three years earlier before joining the U.S. Army, serving with Headquarters Battery, 90th Field Artillery Battalion, 25th Infantry Division.
O’Brien was reported missing in action and presumed dead after his unit came under attack from Korean People’s Army forces near the Taeryong River. According to his family, he drew enemy tank fire towards himself, allowing 10 comrades to retreat safely. He was killed by tank fire.
For his courage and service, Sergeant O’Brien was posthumously awarded several honours, including the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defence Service Medal and Korean Presidential Unit Citation.
After the war, no body was recovered. Hiwever, in 1954, during Operation GLORY, [latter an American effort to repatriate the remains of United Nations Command casualties from North Korea], North Korea returned remains to the United Nations Command. One set, later buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, was believed to possibly be that of Sergeant O’Brien, but identification could not be confirmed at that time.
That changed decades later. In 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred the remains for further study. Using modern scientific testing, DNA evidence and circumstantial records, Sergeant O’Brien was formally identified on September 27th, 2024. A rosette was placed beside his name at the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu to show he had been accounted for.
His niece Shivaun said the family had promised her late father Michael, Thomas’s brother, that they would continue searching for him and bring him home if he was found. Michael, who died in 2014, had provided DNA to assist the identification effort.
“My father would be elated and pleased that we are finally bringing his brother home,” Shivaun said. “It is bittersweet. We all wish he was alive to witness this.”
Sergeant O’Brien’s mother Sarah, who passed away in 1957, had his name engraved on the family headstone in St Ailbe’s Graveyard in Emly, hoping he would one day be brought home.
In 2003, Sergeant O’Brien and 27 other Irish-born men who died while serving in U.S. conflicts were granted posthumous American citizenship. His brother Michael attended that ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Sergeant O’Brien’s remains were brought from Hawaii to Los Angeles on June 8th, where they were received by family members before cremation. His relatives are now accompanying him back to Ireland.
He will be laid to rest with his family in St Ailbe’s Graveyard in Emly at 3:00pm next Monday. His family said they hope many people from Emly and across Tipperary will attend to honour a young man who left Ireland, served bravely, and is finally coming home.
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