English: Image
Brigadier Michael Joseph Aloysius Sheehan CBE, (1899–1975), was born in
Skibbereen,
Co. Cork Ireland as third of three sons of
Captain D. D. Sheehan MP for
Mid-Cork,
Ireland, who served with him on the
Western Front during
World War I.
In the course of his WWI and WWII military career Michael Sheehan was awarded
ten Campaign MedalsAt the outbreak of
World War I he left
St. Finbarr's College, Farranferris, Cork to join the 7th Battalion,
Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)|Leinster Regiment on 20 April 1915. He was transferred on 25 September 1915 to the
Royal Munster Fusiliers as a
second lieutenant and aged 16, was the youngest commissioned officer on the
Western Front. He was promoted
lieutenant on 1 July 1917, and was wounded twice. His two elder brothers
Daniel and
Martin Sheehan, were killed in the war.
After the war he embarked 18 September 1919 for the British Indian Army and was promoted captain on 20 October 1920. [1] He married Lilian Taylor in 1925 and was father of three children, Barbara (aka Ms. Guido Bischofberger), Christopher and Patricia (aka Ms. Frank Johnson).
In World War II he was promoted Brigadier and served on the Headquarters of the famous 14th Army (UK) under General Sir William Slim. In the third Burma Campaign 1944-45 was Director of Supplies and Transport during the division's successful central front trust.
In 1944 he was awarded
"Officer of the Order of the British Empire" (OBE), later advanced to
"Commander of the Order of the British Empire" (CBE) in 1946, in recognition of his distinguished services during the Burma Campaign. Image taken March 1st. 1949 after
investiture at the
Buckingham Palace wearing the awarded CBE medal.