Private Seán Rooney to be honoured at UN headquarters in New York
Active Was On Service In Who Private Seán Killed Rooney This Lebanon Morning
Private Seán Rooney, who was killed on peacekeeping duty last year, will be honoured at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
The Irish Ambassador to the UN will receive a medal on behalf of the family of the Irish peacekeeper. The ceremony forms part of a series of events to mark the 75th anniversary of UN peacekeeping.
Pte Rooney, 23, was killed while on duty in Lebanon last December.
Pte Rooney and his colleagues, who were all serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, were just minutes from the main highway into Beirut when their vehicle was fired on in the village of Al-Aqibiya.
They had become separated from colleagues in another vehicle they had been travelling to Beirut with earlier in the evening, and communications between the two vehicles broke down.
After ending up down remote country roads, they encountered a large crowd that tried to stop them from passing through Al-Aqibiya.
Pte Rooney managed to steer clear of the group but shots were fired into the back of his vehicle, at least one of which hit him, killing him instantly, and the vehicle crashed into a pylon on its way out of the village.
Trooper Shane Kearney, from Killeagh, Co. Cork, sustained a serious head injury when the vehicle crashed.
Last month, he returned to Beaumont Hospital to continue his medical treatment.
Tpr Kearney underwent cranioplasty surgery, which is hoped will be his final operation.