Background
Matt McGrath was born in Nenagh, Tipperary, Ireland. He was one of the eleven children (five girls and six boys) of Timothy McGrath, an impoverished tenant farmer, and his wife, Ann.
(Making history useful to the reader - this is one of the ...)
Making history useful to the reader - this is one of the missions of the Combat Studies Institute. We strive to produce works that recount historical events to inform decision makers and to enable experiential learning. This collection of events put together by John McGrath, which occurred in Iraq during the 2003-2005 timeframe, addresses that mission. The authors largely used primary source material - interviews and unit histories - to develop these vignettes and in doing so have made the works relatable not only to Soldiers who experienced similar situations but to any reader who can imagine themselves having to function in these types of situations. We honor those involved in these actions and hope that by recounting their stories others may not only recognize them for their service but may also learn and grow from their experience. This work is the continuation and revision of a project started in 2006 with the publication of “In Contact!” by the Combat Studies Institute. The original concept was to present a series of military vignettes in a style similar to the widely used case-study methodology commonly found in military literature. The final version of “Between the Rivers,” instead of following this strict case-study format, presents combat action vignettes as narrative accounts of the various types of actions challenging combat leaders in Iraq in 2003-2005. The present volume lies directly within the tradition of these predecessor works on small-unit actions. Since the fall of2001, the United States Army, along with the other American armed services, has been engaged in military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Because the current conflict has so many different fronts and facets, no handful of small- unit case studies could do justice to such a complex tapestry of events. This book thus represents a volume that showcases the American soldier in combat operations within the context of the Global War on Terrorism/The Long War. This series of five case studies is drawn from events in Iraq. Four of the studies discuss combat operations within a counterinsurgency framework at the company and battalion levels. The final case study presents a deployment dilemma facing a brigade-level task force commander when he was asked to replace a whole division in the same geographical space. In each case, the story is derived from oral interviews and key documents and is fully annotated. The primary purpose for presenting these vignettes is to provide a vicarious education in what future participants will face as the War on Terrorism continues and beyond.
https://www.amazon.com/Between-Rivers-Combat-Action-2003-2005/dp/1494437937?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1494437937
Matt McGrath was born in Nenagh, Tipperary, Ireland. He was one of the eleven children (five girls and six boys) of Timothy McGrath, an impoverished tenant farmer, and his wife, Ann.
Sports were popular in the towns and villages of Ireland, and young Matt won the half-mile race at Killaloe and the hundred-yard sprint and broad jump at Partree. He emigrated to the United States in 1897. During his first week in New York City, he wandered into Central Park and, unexpectedly finding himself in a rural setting, kicked off his shoes, splashed in a pond, and threw rocks for exercise until a policeman mildly reprimanded him for breaking the law. The lenient Irish officer's friendliness left an imprint, and McGrath developed an ambition to wear the uniform of the metropolitan police. After working variously as a blacksmith, bartender, and salesman, he qualified for the New York Police Department in 1902. A gregarious and high-spirited youth, McGrath also became an eager participant in amateur athletics. The sports pages of the daily and Irish press, together with a gospel of physical fitness that had caught the imagination of educators, were inspiring many young Irish-Americans to take part in track and field events sponsored by athletic clubs, colleges, playground associations, interscholastic leagues, and the Amateur Athletic Union. The broad-shouldered McGrath, six feet tall and weighing 210 pounds, began throwing weights at a time when records were falling before the onslaught of John J. Flanagan in the hammer, Martin Sheridan in the discus, and Ralph Rose in the shot-put. He joined the New York Police Athletic League when it was organized in 1906 and rapidly improved his hammer throw. In 1907 he won the United States junior championship, and the next year, despite a torn ligament, placed second to Flanagan, the three-time champion, in the London Olympics. Returning to his native Nenagh for a brief visit afterward, he set a new world record in the hammer throw. In 1911, he set two more world records, one of 187' 4" in the hammer and another of 40' 63/8" in the 56-pound weight throw; this last remained unsurpassed during his lifetime. The following year, at Stockholm, he set the Olympic hammer record at 179' 7 1/8". Patrick J. Ryan, another of America's transplanted "Irish Whales, " soon surpassed his world record, but McGrath's Olympic feat held until 1936. During World War I he competed in A. A. U. and club contests, and in 1920, at the Antwerp Olympics, placed fifth in the hammer. McGrath died of pneumonia at St. Clare's Hospital in New York City at the age of sixty-four. Spectators by the thousands lined the streets as a mammoth funeral procession made its way to services at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, New York.
(Making history useful to the reader - this is one of the ...)
McGrath was married to Loretta Smith, and though the couple did not have children of their own, in 1936 they adopted an orphan of Chinese descent, Bobby Lou.