General Martin Edward Dempsey, a 2016 Irish America Hall of Fame honoree, served as the 18th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for two terms and previously served as the Army's Chief of Staff. General Dempsey graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1974 and has been a career armor officer, serving in Operation Desert Storm, commanding the 4th Battalion 67th Armor in … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Martin Dempsey
Adam Farley
Hall of Fame: Eileen Collins
In the 1950s and ’60s, as the industries that had helped populate and sustain upstate New York like railroading and manufacturing were leaving, the Harris Hill Gliderport in the lagging town of Elmira offered Eileen Collins a different kind of opportunity. She remembers her father taking her and her siblings to the airstrip just west of town to sit on the hood of their car with … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Eileen Collins
Hall of Fame: Pete Hamill
If asked for a single word that accurately and completely sums up Pete Hamill’s career, there is only one answer – writer. His genre? Just about everything – novels, short stories, history, biography, memoir, magazine features, newspaper columns, television pilots, adapted film scripts, Bob Dylan liner notes. At his core though, he is a newsman, and it is this journalistic … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame: Pete Hamill
A Guide to Pronouncing
Irish Names
In January, actress Saoirse Ronan stopped by the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She was there to promote her movie Brooklyn, but the conversation moved into Ronan teaching Colbert (whose ancestry is 15/16 Irish) both how to speak with an Irish accent and how to pronounce traditional Irish names – something that has no doubt been a problem since at least the eighth century, … [Read more...] about A Guide to Pronouncing
Irish Names
Roots: The Proud Dempseys
Though never particularly numerous (as of the last count in 1996 by the Irish Times, the surname ranks as the underwhelming 164th most common surname in Ireland), the Dempsey clan was a powerful sept in its time. Originating in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe, anglicized today as Offaly and roughly covering the same territory as the contemporary county, the clan derives its name … [Read more...] about Roots: The Proud Dempseys