'Privilege' for Tullamore's Sam to be in Jadotville film
Tullamore’s Sam Keeley has said it was a “privilege and honour” to bring the Jadotville story to the silver screen.
The local actor, now based in London, was speaking prior to the first screening of the long awaited Netflix film at the recent Galway Film Fleadh.
Based on the book of the same name by Declan Power, the film details the controversial 1961 siege where 150 Irish UN troops in the Congo, who were mainly from Athlone, were attacked by 3,000 troops loyal to the Katangese Prime Minister Moise Tshombe.
The Irish troops bravely fought the rebels, led by French and Belgian mercenaries working for mining companies, for a total of six days until their ammunition and supplies had been exhausted and Comdt Pat Quinlan judged that they could not continue without loss of life and took the difficult decision to surrender, after a truce had been brokered by the other side.
Sam Keeley plays a sniper character called Bill, the sharpshooter of the group, in the feature which also stars Fifty Shade of Grey actor Jamie Dornan.
“It was such a privilege and honour to be part of something that is a prominent event in Irish history that not many people know about,” he told the Offaly Independent, paying tribute to John Gorman and Noel Stanley from Tullamore who helped him research the incredible story prior to filming.
Last week, it emerged soldiers who fought in the siege of Jadotville will receive formal Government recognition later this year.
The Government has agreed to the award of a Unit Citation to ‘A’ Company to recognise the achievement of the 150 Irish soldiers, the majority of whom came from the 6th Infantry Battalion based at Athlone’s Custume Barracks, who bravely fought against an estimated 3,000 enemy troops in the Congo back in 1961.