Waterford man appeals to the US for help finding brother who went missing 71 years ago

Frank O'Neill attended Dublin's annual Missing Person's Day to talk about his brother James who has been missing since 1947.

O'Neill believes his brother James (or Jimmy) may have stowed away on a ship to America.

Speaking to journalist Alison O'Reilly, O'Neill said he had previously heard of a man with a similar name working in New York.

O'Neill told the reporter that at Christmas time, 71 years ago, his then-16-year-old brother "vanished" from their Waterford home.

His parents, Jim and Bridget, and four siblings (Frank, Nancy, Jack, and Noel) never recovered from the "pain and loss."

Read More: Family's desperate plea to find missing Irishman in New York

Frank O'Neill.

O'Neill (above) was four-years-old at the time of his brother's disappearance, "still believes there is a chance is brother is alive and well."

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, O'Neill said he was appealing to social media users, in particular, to help find his brother.

Read More: Irishman's 70 year search for brother who could have ended up in NYC 

"I think it’s the only way nowadays, social media and DNA testing, they are the way forward with these things," O'Neill told the outlet.

"That is the way a lot of people are getting their information. I don’t have a clue what happened to him. I was the youngest of four and I grew up in a house full of grief. It never goes away. People say to you, why don’t you just forget him. No one knows what it’s like, you can’t forget, that is the whole thing with missing people. They are missing. You can’t forget."