Michael Joe Costello

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General Michael Joseph Costello was born on 4 July 1904 in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary.

He became involved in the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921, after seeing his father, a school teacher, arrested by the Black and Tans. His godfather was Thomas MacDonagh, a signatory of the proclamation of the Irish Republic in 1916.

He joined the Irish National Army in 1922 and was involved in the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923. In July 1922,as a second lieutenant, he was in a party of the National Army that was ambushed at Raheen by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) resulting in the death of two Colonels; Costello and another officer turned the ambush which resulted in the capture of thirty of the IRA ambushers. For this, and an aptitude for staff work, he was promoted by General Michael Collins to Colonel-Commandant at the age of 18, a feat only really possible in an army undergoing transition from a guerrilla force. However it should be noted that the US Army would soon display a high opinion of Costello's talents.^{[citation needed]}

He served as National Army Director of Intelligence from 1924 to 1926. He attended the US Army's Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth from 1926 to 1927, passing with such distinction that he was recommended for the US War College. In a series of articles in the Irish military journal "An t-Oglach", Costello accurately forecast the advent of 'blitzkrieg' warfare. He was appointed Director of Training in 1931 and in 1933 he was appointed Commandant of Irish Military College (where he was nicknamed "the boy Colonel.")

During The Emergency he raised and commanded the Irish Army's First Division, which was primarily responsible for the defence of the south coast of Ireland. Although the quality of human material was high (the division was an all-volunteer force) heavy equipment was lacking. In Costello's words: "Given the inadequate armament and signal equipment of the Forces, training concentrated on attaining superiority over a potential invader in night operations with small forces expected to yield capture of enemy arms and ammunition, in cross country mobility and in marksmanship and the use of mines and explosives generally. Some remarkable performances were made by platoons in silent advances during dark nights over difficult and unknown country." In 1944, one of Costello's units carried out a 44 mile march carrying forty pounds of kit in eleven hours, a feat that was later deemed to be a world record for such a march under peacetime conditions.

Costello was promoted to Major General in 1941 and was further promoted to Lieutenant General in 1945. He retired from the Irish Army in 1946, after which he became the Managing Director of the Irish Sugar Company. He died on 20 October 1986.