Grieving family plead for 'truth' after brave soldier dies in combat
SHE was a typically rosy-cheeked cailin growing up in Connemara.
When her family left Ireland for America in 1986, Ciara Durkin could never have known her life would come to an abrupt and violent end in the service of her adopted homeland.
But last night her family were making a desperate plea to the Department of Foreign Affairs to help them "get answers" to how she died while on duty with the US army in Afghanistan.
Ciara's sister Deirdre Durkin (44) told the Irish Independent of her family's struggle to deal with her death -- and their quest for the truth about how she died.
According to Deirdre, the Massachusetts-based family are trying their best to respect the confidential nature of the US army's inquiry into their beloved sister's death.
However, all nine siblings -- who are originally from Enach Mheain in Connemara but moved to Quincy, a large Boston suburb, when Ciara was 10 -- are desperate to know how their sister died in combat.
The brave soldier was assigned to the army's Task Force Diamond unit when she received a single gunshot to the head within the Bagram airbase, 47kms north of the capital Kabul.
The family have been informed that the inquiry -- ordered by US central command after her death on September 27 -- will take up to eight weeks to complete.
"We have received very little information from the US army and we are trying to respect their need for confidentiality," Deirdre said.
"But we want answers and we want them as soon as possible. Ciara was very street smart and she wasn't easily intimidated," she added.
"No stone should be left unturned to find out how she died. We don't like how it sounds. It is very hard to go to sleep at night knowing that she was killed like that."
Deirdre recalled how she and her sister had spent hours talking about growing up in Ireland. She said Ciara is to be cremated and half her ashes are to be kept with relatives in Connemara with the other half remaining in Boston.
For Deirdre, the pain of losing her "closest friend" and the families "little brat" has been unbearable and "completely devastating".
Her house in Quincy was a place where Ciara stayed for long periods after the death of Deirdre's husband Barry Goonan eight years ago.
However, the house that was once full of joy and laughter has now become merely a place to trade memories of Ciara and her "wicked sense of humour".
"We are completely devastated at what happened. At the moment it is like a rollercoaster," her sister said.
"Luckily we are an extremely close knit family and are supporting each other as best we can," Deirdre added.
"Ciara was the most wonderful person. She was thoughtful and so helpful. After my husband died she took my children under her wing and really looked out for them."
But it was not just her family that knew the depth of her kind nature -- Ciara also received plaudits from her colleagues when she saved a man's life after he plunged from a 26-foot ladder.
And it was that kindness and desire to "serve people" that led her to go into the armed forces.
"We didn't want her to go into the army I have to be honest with you," said Deirdre. "But she genuinely wanted to get out there and help and do something good for her country.
"We couldn't believe that she wanted to go in at the worst time of all. But she was so calm about it and said that she was only going to be there for a year and would be safe."
"Just before she went back on that last trip to Afghanistan I asked her how she felt about going and she said that she couldn't wait."
Ciara regularly sent emails to her family describing the beauty of Afghanistan and the "wonderful, happy" people there.
For her relatives back in Connemara, the lack of answers has been heart-breaking -- and very frustrating.
"There are three family members here and the only information that we are getting is from Boston and to be honest they aren't getting much," said Ciara's brother-in-law Padraig O Conghaile.
"We just want the Department of Foreign affairs to help us. We just feel that they will get more answers than we can."
The Department of Foreign Affairs last night said that following appeals they would be contacting the US authorities in Dublin and Washington.
