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Séamus Ó Fianghusa

Séamus Ó Fianghusa

US Army Infantry Sergeant

Age: 34

Place of Birth: Brooklyn, NY

Where you live: Brooklyn, NY

First Job: Serving ice cream at Carvel

What it taught me: That I don’t like working in service industries. But I still like ice cream.

Status: Single

Family: Clann Fianghusa (The Fennessys)

Three things people would be surprised to know about me:

1. I spoke fluent native Korean as a child, then I went to school and lost it.

2. I don’t know how to whistle.

3. With all due respect to the promoters of Irish cuisine, I like spicy Mexican food the best.

Best advice you could give someone starting out: Find out what your real goals in life are, then pursue them with dedication. And treat every single person you meet along the way with kindness and respect.

Séamus Ó Fianghusa, known as ‘Séamus na Gaeilge’ in the Donegal Gaeltacht, is a US Army soldier who recently returned from a year-long combat deployment in Afghanistan. He is currently serving with the legendary ‘Fighting 69th’ which leads the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade every year.

This unit is not only the most combat credited regiment in the American armed forces, but the direct descendant of the ‘Wild Geese’ Irish Brigades of France and Spain. In March of 2006, he started learning Irish.

He achieved recognition within the Irish language movement after attaining fluency in the tongue within a short span of time and with no fromal instruction.

He went to Ireland for the first time in the summer of 2008 and currently spends his time between Ireland and the United States, at least when he’s not off fighting a war.

He is a passionate advocate of all aspects of traditional Celtic culture and one of the relatively few practitioners of the ancient Gaelic art of song known as ‘sean-nós’.

In Ireland, he is a frequent contributor to Irish language media, with numerous appearances on national televsion and radio.

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