Why Christopher O’Dowd is on this page

Heritage: Born in Cahernabruck, in the parish of Shrule, County Mayo, on 6 September 1920, the ninth of twelve children of James O’Dowd (d. 1960) and Sarah O’Sullivan (d. 1972). This is the documented Irish-born Mayo Uí Dubhda lineage by surname and place — among the strongest heritage signals in the entire batch. His nephew Gearóid O’Dowd published a 2011 family-and-regimental history.

Christopher O’Dowd MM (6 September 1920 – 6 October 1943) was an Irish founding member of the British Army’s Special Air Service, killed in action in southern Italy during the Second World War. Born at Cahernabruck in the parish of Shrule, County Mayo, the ninth of twelve children of James O’Dowd and Sarah O’Sullivan, he enlisted in the British Army before the war and was among the small group of original SAS recruits selected by David Stirling and trained at Kabrit in Egypt. O’Dowd took part in five successful raids; on 8 May 1942 he assisted in the destruction of thirty enemy aircraft at Fuka aerodrome, and on 14 September 1942, in the abortive raid on Benghazi, he held the rear vehicle of the withdrawing column, drawing the defenders’ fire away from the main party with sustained machine-gun fire. He was awarded the Military Medal in 1943, weeks before his death. On 6 October 1943 he was one of eighteen SAS soldiers killed by a single shell at Termoli, Italy. His life and the early years of the SAS were the subject of a 2011 book by his nephew Gearóid O’Dowd.

Heritage notes

Family root: Cahernabruck, Shrule, County Mayo, Ireland — irish-born-confirmed-mayo.

The directory threads Christopher O’Dowd back to the O'Dubhda clan story via the surname-variants reality — the same family carried these spellings as it scattered. See the septs and the diaspora for the wider pattern, or the Clan DNA Project for the genetic connections being mapped now.