After scoffing down some much needed calories I headed over to see what the flag and statue was for, it was obviously a man, a local I assumed. And when I read the inscription I realised that the US flag was associated with the statue.

It turns out that local man John King who was born in Ballinrobe in 1862 (although I have read this as 1865 on many pages). He emigrated to the United States in the 1880s and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1893. During the decades following the Great Famine, this part of Ireland was depopulated by continued emigration; the USA was a big draw for the Irish.

King worked in the boiler room on various vessels, attaining the rank of Chief Water Tender. What makes him remarkable and worthy of a statue and flag in a small west of Ireland town? He won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Not once, but twice.

In 1901 he was serving on board the USS Vicksburg when one of the boilers exploded, King was honoured for heroism in the line of his profession and the Medal of Honor was awarded by President Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1909 another boiler explosion occurred and again John King was able to relieve pressure from the system, preventing injuries, deaths or severe damage to the USS Salem. President William Taft awarded the second Congressional Medal of Honor in which King was noted as serving with extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession.

King became an American citizen in 1912 and was recalled to duty during the First World War. He moved to Ballinrobe for a number of years until the death of his wife after which he returned to the US. He died in Arkansas in 1938.

King is one of only 19 men to have won the Congressional Medal of Honor twice. Interestingly six of these 19 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients are Irish.

I think it makes a visit to small out of the way places such as Ballinrobe more enjoyable to see local figures like John King remembered.