An 82-year-old man who has recovered from Covid-19 says being diagnosed felt like a death sentence.
Tom Gunn from Co. Tipperary served for years with the Defence Forces, was deployed in the Congo and survived the siege of Jadotville.
He says tackling the virus was the biggest challenge he faced.
"Well I was two days in isolation in a ward of my own, and when I got the result -- at my age this was a death sentence," he said.
"So then you have to try and gather yourself together and try to fight it off. Definitely your whole life appears in front of you -- did you do this, did you do that."
"I was in Jadotville, which was a picnic compared to this," he said.
In September 1961, during the Congo Crisis, a troop of Irish peacekeepers were surrounded by Katangese Gendarmes and mercenaries and bombed from the air -- only surrendering when their ammunition ran out after days of fighting without reinforcement.
