About
Seán Norton DSM, Colonel (retired), joined the Defence Forces in January 1955 at the age of nineteen. He went on to the Cadet School and was commissioned in 1959. In December 1961 he went to the Congo with 36th Infantry Battalion. He was one of three Platoon Commanders at the Battle of the Tunnel in Elizabethville, Congo. Two Irish soldiers, including one of the Platoon Commanders were killed in action. Col Norton was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for his role in the battle; one of fourteen men from ‘A’, 36th Infantry Battalion to received a DSM. Col Norton was interviewed for the Military Archives Oral History Project in May 2017.
