Page 77 - AGC Journal 2018

AGC JOURNAL 2018

International Military

Pilgrimage to Lourdes

By Lieutenant Conor Patrick

This event brings together servicemen and women
from around the world to share their experiences,

recharge their batteries and reflect.

Night Train Confirmation

The whistle of the train jogged the memory, and in a In word and deed there were confirmations. I admired
half-dream we recalled the decision not to leave in the the Padres as they strangled their charges: the
daytime, that would be too humdrum, but take a night centralised brief, the captive cadets, the bemused
train, or anyhow one that left after nightfall. It pulled regulars and add to this His Word. I recited the Rosary
away from Hamm, grimed and somnolent, conveying awkwardly as I had been taught – an Irish education is
its many camouflaged passengers, our mystery hidden not easily forgotten. We were on this Pilgrimage now,

by its blinds. On board, personnel from smaller armies, one quipped quietly, still unsure whether He might
British Forces Germany, twelve strong, and others; hear. And in the moment one could appreciate why this
amongst them three personnel from the Corps: Second particular military event is undersubscribed. But putting Conor Patrick, Vice Admiral

Mark Mellett Chief of Staff Irish
Lieutenant Sam Smith, Sergeant George Vesi and away your issued beads and mounting your pilgrims Defence Forces, Captain N
myself. We were Lourdes bound, erasing ourselves from badge, there was a sense of something which was Yuldasheva and Sam Smith
the mighty Rhine, skirting the Mediterranean before always notably absent from previous encounters with
ascending the Pyrenees; German industry for French Catholicism as I knew it: fun.
idyll.
Jeanne D’Arc
What sort of excursion is this that sees private troopers
and four star generals socialise on an equal footing,
smiling ear-to-ear at the neutral setting, the absolution
of rank. Who foresaw the Band of the Parachute
Regiment and the Pipers of the Irish Defence Forces
racing in formation on either side of the Gave de Pau to
meet at a junction and laugh about the clash afterwards.
And you sit for pizza and dine with the head of a foreign
force, Croatian, German, Austrian, other. And the days
blend into one as they start and end in the early hours
in the morning, 20,000 military personnel on a certain
bridge in the French mountains, revelling until the police

can uniquely gas them off it with good nature-and then

back out again. As one senior British officer observed:

“This is, in the end, military Magaluf.” The Chief of the

Defence Staff with
The Miracle of Lourdes Conor Patrick
There were heady moments in Lourdes, likely

impermissible elsewhere, and that is part of its wonder. An Anecdote and Offer
This is a place where people have their names carved
into rock in thanks: John Pye, Cancer, cured by our Lady To ascend the Sanctuary Church of Our Lady of Lourdes,
of Lourdes. Importantly, this applies in a military context, one must scale a considerable hill. This is no simple
too. I was at all times impressed by the devotion of those task for any soldier in best boots and 30 degree heat.

who come to find their own personal reason at Saint Certainly it is far more difficult for a woman wheeling

Bernadette’s Shrine. Be it the British soldier who carefully her incapacitated mother up the same. I watched as one
fills jerry cans with holy water to bring back to the Pacific of our soldiers broke ranks, took hold of the chair and

islands, to the Commonwealth ally who reveals his wife’s sweated her to the top, this in service dress. Better him.
terminal disease: “I’m here to reinforce my own moral “Bless you” said the daughter, American, “no one has
component.” All were there to involve themselves as ever done that. You give me your details and I’ll pay for
much as they wished in the religious side of the journey, you to return to Lourdes.” The same offer extends to all

Sam Smith and which is just one optional element of a whole. I did that, Conor Patrick, United Kingdom military personnel. It is an experience
Conor Patrick at and allowed others to share their stories with me. That Commander Field like nothing else I would suggest ‘following out of sheer
Lourdes was incredibly useful and something I would unlikely Army and Sam Smith curiosity.’ We are grateful to the Regimental Association
experience in any other setting. for their generous support this year.
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