Joe McGowan

Who is Joe McGowan?

Joe McGowan is an Irish historian, folklorist, and author specialising in the history and heritage of Ireland. He is based in Sligo.

Sligo Champion interview Wednesday 5 August 2009:

"If there is truth in the saying that 'a man in his life plays many parts' then this adage is surely epitomised by Sligo author and historian Joe Mc Gowan. Farmer, soldier, builder, fisherman, now turned writer, his latest work "A Bitter Wind" was unveiled recently at an Irish night starring Sligo's own Sandy Kelly in the Pier Head Hotel Mullaghmore.

Born on the family farm at Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo Joe lived the life of a small farmer on the family holding until emigrating to the U.S.A. in the ‘60s. Drafted into the U.S. Army six months after arriving in Yorktown Hgts., N.Y., he underwent infantry training in Fort Dix, New Jersey. On graduation he was stationed with the 87th Engineer Bn. in Fort Belvoir, Virginia where he served during President Kennedy's stand-off with the Russians, known as the 'Cuban Crisis'. The balance of active service was with the 557 Quartermaster Co. on Évreux-Fauville airbase in France. This being the period of the Vietnam war, the 557 th's mission, composed mostly of 82nd and 101st Airborne troops, was the delivery of supplies and personnel to the combat zone in Vietnam.