Uncle Matty Comes Home

On Saint Patrick’s Day 2016, Jim Farrell received a surprising email: an M-1 rifle engraved with the name M. Teahan had been discovered in Normandy 72 years after its owner, Martin (Matty) Teahan, Jim’s uncle, had been killed in the June 1944 D-Day invasion of France. A young private in the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Matty had been laid to rest beside his fellow heroes in the Normandy American Cemetery, but now French Army General Patrick Collet was writing to inform the family that Matty’s rifle had been recovered and was safe in his possession. Luck of the Irish! 

Thus began Jim Farrell’s adventure of discovery and self-discovery, as he and his family embarked on the successful quest to bring his uncle home in spirit by repatriating his historic rifle. A saga spanning four generations and multiple countries, the rifle’s extraordinary journey and recovery is also the story of Matty Teahan, a humble private made of the stuff that made so many of his generation great—the strength of character, courage, and will-power to prevail against great odds, and the guts, determination, and sheer daring-do to jump out of a perfectly good airplane over enemy territory.

Martin Teahan’s emblematic M-1 rifle currently hangs in office of the Chief of Staff of the US Army, awaiting donation to the new US Army Museum at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Similarly, the Farrell family’s quest represents something larger than itself: the intensifying search by the children of the Greatest Generation to understand the facts and meaning of their fathers’ and grandfathers’ war, and their intense desire to come to terms with the often tragic, yet seldom discussed, repercussions of the death and violence their elders experienced in World War II.

Thanks so much for all you have done to honor your Uncle Matty and the great paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division in the liberation of France. He died to make others free — there is no higher honor.

—Airborne All the Way! General Mark Milley, U.S. Army*

Your Uncle Martin Teahan’s rifle is a special piece of history. He must be smiling from Paratroopers’ Heaven.

—Brigadier General Patrick Collet, Commanding Officer, 11th Parachute Brigade, French Army (Armée de Terre)

I was in the same company as Private Martin Teahan when we both jumped into Normandy on June 6, 1944. He ran around with one of the commo [communication] platoon Sergeants, O.B. Hill, and sang a lot of country songs. Being from Oklahoma, I was always there, listening. If I could say one word to Teahan, it would be this: “The bond that existed when you left the 508th PIR still exists today, some 73 years later, due to your friend Sergeant O.B. Hill and the officers and members of the Family and Friends of the 508th PIR Association.

—Retired Command Sergeant Major Kenneth J. “Rock” Merritt, HQ Co., 1st BN 508TH PIR (1942-1946)

Jim Farrell has brought his hero Uncle Matty back to life as he traces the fascinating journey of Matty’s rifle from the battlefield where he was slain to its display in the office of 39th Army Chief of Staff General Mark A. Milley more than 70 years after Matty’s death. It is an incredible, one-of-a-kind story, written with eloquence and emotion.

—Dick O’Donnell, National Chairman, Family and Friends of the 508th PIR Association

The story of Matty Teahan’s rifle, and the determination of his nephew to honor a fallen family hero, is one of the most inspiring and poignant stories I have ever reported on in my 50 years as a journalist. Jim Farrell’s Uncle Matty Comes Home is a fitting tribute and epitaph to one man’s sacrifice for the cause of freedom.

—Andrew Smart, Features Department, Nottingham Post, England

* Disclaimer: The above quote is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense or its components.