Three years ago, a US Army soldier decided to completely embrace his Irish heritage and learn his ancestors' native tongue and even become a seán-nós singer.

Seamus Ó Fianghusa from Brooklyn, or Seamus na Gaeilge as he is better known as these days, first came to the attention of the Irish-speaking world during a special television broadcast from New York two years ago.

RTÉ broadcaster and journalist Timlín Ó Cearnaigh from Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal was the first person to interview Seamus for the programme Féile na Nollaig, in December 2007.

At this point Seamus had been learning Irish for a year and a half, but had never spoken to actual native speakers, and other people attending the Irish language event were amazed by the Brooklyn native's Tir Conaill accent.

Speaking to Seamus in Bun na Leaca, Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, where he is currently staying for two months with John Sheamais O'Fearraigh and family, he said that learning Irish was something he wanted to do from a very young age.

"Just the other evening I was speaking to some locals here who were really curious to find out the reasons behind my decision to learn Irish.

"Coming from a very proud Irish American family, I always wanted to learn Irish and even first attempted to do so when I was a teenager."

The real turning point came when Seamus met Donegal Gaeltacht native, Treasa Ní Mhurchadha. "I told these people I was ashamed that I couldn't speak Irish to her. They got even deeper and asked why was I ashamed and why did I care.

"Although my family are very proud Americans and New Yorkers, we never forgot our roots and therefore I always had a very strong sense of Irishness.

"But painting my face and going out for St Patrick's Day, all that stereotypical stuff was never enough for me and to be honest I wasn't a big fan of it."

The grandson of Limerick and Clare natives, Seamus said the Irish pride was carried on through the generations and was passed on from his father to him.

"My mother's heritage is Korean and I'm very proud of that family background too, but I just had a burning desire to explore my Irish heritage and from learning all about my Irish ancestors' culture and history, the obvious next step was to learn the native language."

Seamus revealed that after a few 'lazy' years and attempts to learn Irish as a teenager, he went on to study linguistics which helped him to develop an understanding in how to learn a language.

But it was his meeting with Treasa from Glencolmcille that re-ignited that desire to learn Irish and led him to buying the Gael Media-produced RTÉ/BBC Irish language course, Now You're Talking.

He said: "Going back a few more generations in my family I found out that they had come from Glencolmcille and, although I have the utmost respect for all dialects, this was ultimately my reason for specifically wanting to learn Ulster/Tir Conaill Irish."

Seamus said got a sense of being reborn as he began to learn his ancestors' native turning in March 2006, having just turned 30 years old. "I literally memorised the book and wouldn't let myself go on to the next chapter until I knew it off by heart."

Not having anyone to speak Irish to, Seamus' next step was to start listening to Raidio na Gaeltachta after finding out that the person he had listened to on the Now You're Talking tapes was also a very well-known broadcaster, Gaoth Dobhair's very own Rónán Mac Aodh Bhuí.

He said: "I found out that Rónán was a broadcaster and I began listening to his show Rónán Beo @ 3 which is just a fantastic programme.

"I think the best method for learning a language is just listening, so I'd sit there with an Irish dictionary and any words I didn't understand I simply looked them up.

"Although I had finished the Now You're Talking tapes, I didn't have complex Irish, but what I did have was the roots and tools to develop and being to listen to do that by listening to Rónán on the radio, a voice I was so familiar to, was just great."

Like everyone else, Seamus was busy with work and social activities, but although he still didn't have anyone to speak Irish to regularly, it didn't stop him from continuing the learning process.

"My study time was limited to maybe an hour a day, but throughout the day I would constantly say to myself 'How would I say that in Irish'."

Seamus once again bumped into his friend Treasa after Sunday mass and not having seen him in a while she was shocked to hear him speak Irish to her, and with a Donegal accent. "I was shocked myself as I couldn't believe that I was able to hold a conversation in Irish with her."

Over the next year, Seamus only had sporadic opportunities to speak Irish when he'd meet Treasa after mass on a Sunday but he then took the next step and joined an Irish conversation circle in the city run by Dublin native Elaine Ní Bhraonain.

"I remember being so nervous walking into the class and meeting Elaine for the first time. I had slow and broken Irish but nevertheless it was conversational."

Wanting to get in touch with more native speakers and with his Tir Conaill roots, Seamus joined New York's Donegal Association next.

"It was in the fall of 2007 that I joined the association and first met Rosina Nic Giolla Easpaig and then Nóra Ní Dhuibheannaigh from Gaoth Dobhair.

"Rosina asked me where I had learnt my Irish and I told her about listening to Rónán Mac Aodh Bhuí on Now You're Talking and then on the internet.

"She couldn't believe it and told me that she had grown up with Rónán and it was Rosina who first told him about me and then a couple of months later, he phoned me out of the blue.

"You don't understand how shocked I was when he called, and the first words that came out of my mouth were 'Rónán Mac Aodh Bhuí, Mo Laoch (My Hero)'," he laughed.

After doing his first short interview with Timlín Ó Cearnaigh for Féile na Nollaig in December 2007, Seamus was interviewed on Rónán Beo @ 3 for the very first time that same month.

"When Rónán had first contacted I couldn't understand why he would want to interview me as I hadn't been speaking to many people in Irish by then.

"But the interview went really well and we must have spoken for at least 20 minutes, it was totally awesome although I will admit that I was very nervous."

Seamus' first interview with Rónán on Raidio na Gaeltachta would start a chain of events that would lead him to interviewed as Gaeilge by Des Bishop on Times Square and receiving a scholarship from Liam Ó Cuinneagáin to attend Oideas Gael, the Irish College in Glencolmcille, and finally returning 'home' to Gaoth Dobhair for the very first time.

"Liam Ó Cuinegain who is the head of the school in Glencolmcille heard that my roots were ultimately in Glencolmcille and that I had never been to Ireland.

"He gave me a scholarship to attend his school and paid my way for me set me up with a full scholarship last year. He was a total gentleman."

Seamus then made his way to Gaoth Dobhair and said it was like walking into Heaven. "When I set foot in Gaoth Dobhair for the first time it just felt like I was home, I'd never been there before and yet it felt like I had been here my whole life.

"Coming from being an isolated Irish speaker back home in New York to all of a sudden being surrounded by people speaking my dialect was amazing, I totally fitted in."

Seamus would again return to Ireland later that year to compete in the seán-nós singing competition at the Oireachtas for the very first time.

"I found that learning songs is an excellent of improving your Irish. Besides the beautiful melodies you have really old Irish, correct grammar and pronunciation that you can learn from the songs that you can learn from.

"I spent a week down in Cork for the Oireachtas and competed in the seán-nós competition, I didn't win of course but was very pleasantly surprised and delighted when I got the call back for the finals in my category," he said.

Building on his success from last year, Seamus once again took part Oireachtas, held in Letterkenny last week. "It's not about the competition for me but more about meeting other Irish speakers and improving my Irish."

Seamus is also going to be part of a documentary produced by RTÉ and TG4 about the history of his US Army National Guard unit, the 69th Infantry Regiment, better known as 'The Fighting 69th', which will be broadcast in 2010.

He said: "The bilingual documentary which is being produced by RTÉ and TG4 will tell the story of this unit, which is very famous in both Irish and American history.

"During the American Civil War the unit was made up solely of Irishmen, many of whom were native Irish speakers, and they compiled a distinguished record for themselves in combat."

Now with the National Guard unit for nearly two years Seamus said he may be deployed to Afghanistan as soon as he returns home from his holiday in Donegal.

"I save up every last penny and every holiday I had to be here for two months and I have not regretted it for one second as this is home to me now. I'm under contract with the US Army until 2013 and following the completion of I would love to move to Ireland for good."