"Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds."
With Yeats's words and his Ben Bulben as a backdrop, the Air Corps Helicopter Wing and the Donegal marine community paid a personal tribute at the weekend to the four airmen lost in Tramore, Co Waterford, last year.
A simple limestone seat overlooking the Atlantic was dedicated to the four Dauphin helicopter crew at Finner Camp, Co Donegal.
The north-west search and rescue base at Air Station Finner was "home from home" for Capt Dave O'Flaherty, Capt Mick Baker, Sgt Paddy Mooney and Cpl Niall Byrne, before 24-hour cover was initiated in the southeast.
On a clear day, the seat commands views of Slieve League, St John's Point and Donegal Bay. Carved by a Creevy stonemason, Mr Joe Roper, it is sheltered by Liscannor stone, and bears the four-line extract from Yeats's An Irish Airman Foresees His Death.
The late airmen's families were guests of honour at the event, which did not have many "public men" - as the poet put it - on its invitation list.
In a biting north-westerly, a commemorative plaque was unveiled by two widows and two mothers, Mrs Maria O'Flaherty, Mrs Monica Mooney, Mrs Mary Baker, and Mrs Anna Byrne.
Over 300 representatives of the south Donegal community, the fishing industry and marine and mountain rescue volunteers heard Lieut-Col Aidan Flanagan, officer commanding the Helicopter Wing, describe the sense of loss felt by colleagues and friends of Rescue 111. Finner has a long association with the Air Corps, and the first Alouette was deployed there in 1973.
Lieut-Col Declan O'Carroll of the Army's 28th Infantry Battalion recalled the sense of devastation in the camp on July 2nd, 1999, when news of the Tramore accident came through. Father Alan Ward, the Army chaplain, referred to the description of the four men as heroes after the fatal accident. They had been heroes before that, in the work that they did, and in the way they led their own lives at home, he said.
Air Corps and Army personnel, Donegal County Council, the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation and individual fishing skippers contributed to fund-raising for the seat - intended as a place for reflection - and the project was co-ordinated by Commdt Sean Clancy and Commdt Tom O'Connor of the Helicopter Wing. The short ceremony concluded with a minute's silence, and a reception to express the wing's gratitude to the 28th Infantry Battalion and to the people of Donegal for "unwavering support throughout the years".
