Graham Dale: Tributes paid to Irish ‘natural born hero’ killed fighting in Ukraine

The north Dublin man who was killed while fighting with the Ukrainian army has been remembered as someone who felt “very strongly” about defending Europe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Graham Dale (45), from Raheny, north Dublin, was killed in Ukraine last Friday, though the circumstances in which he died are yet to be confirmed.

He had travelled to Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion last year and later joined the Ukrainian army, where it is believed he died while fighting against Russian forces.

Mr Dale previously served with the US marines in the Iraq War, joining the US military in the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks, having moved to Austin, Texas the previous year.

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John Knepper, who served in Iraq with Mr Dale, said the Dublin man felt “very strongly about Europe defending Europe” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a post on Facebook, he said Mr Dale was a “true warrior” who had been proud to serve in the Marines. “He was always confident, outspoken and collected ... He loved having pints and talking about politics, life and memories with all his favourite friends,” he said.

Mr Knepper said he had “loved hanging out” with Mr Dale, who he said was a “natural born hero”.

Eamonn O’Dulainn, who taught Mr Dale when he was a pupil in St Malachy’s national school in Edenmore, recalled that he was a “quiet lad” in school.

Mr O’Dulainn, who also taught one of his brothers, said the pair came from a “lovely family”, who live in the Woodbine estate in Raheny.

The former principal of the primary school said he remembered being “surprised” when he heard Mr Dale had joined the US Marines to fight in Iraq.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has said officials were aware of the Irish man’s death in Ukraine and were providing consular assistance to his family.

In a May 2022 interview with KXAN, an Austin-based TV station, Mr Dale spoke about his decision to travel to Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

“To me this is an attack on all of Europe and I felt compelled with my current skill set that I could help in any way that I could,” he said.

He said he first went to Poland to help assist the humanitarian effort, but later travelled to Dnipro in Ukraine, where he initially helped deliver supplies to orphanages and hospitals. “By the time I actually passed through into Ukraine the Russians were already withdrawing from Kyiv, there is always an element of risk, we take that seriously obviously,” he said.

Mr Dale wrote a book about his time in the US Marine Corps, The Green Marine: an Irishman’s War in Iraq. He was a former member of the Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCA) in the Republic and was also a volunteer firefighter in the US, after emigrating there 23 years ago.

“I couldn’t sit by on the sidelines and watch these terrible events unfold like it was a daytime TV drama,” he told The Irish Times in 2008 of his motivation for joining another country’s military. “We were under attack and I felt it was my duty to step up to the plate, roll up my sleeves and fight to defend a way of life that was now mine.”

Mr Dale had arrived in the US in 2000 and settled in Texas, where he worked as a software consultant for IBM. However, after joining the US military the following year, he was posted to Iraq as a marine reserve mortar man in August 2004.

His book, which he wrote with journalist Neil Fetherstonhaugh, was based on a lengthy journal he kept while deployed in the western desert in Iraq and was published by Hachette Ireland in 2009.

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