Northern Ireland

Working in the Shipping Yard

I started work as a Catch and Rivet Boy at Victoria Yard for Harland and Wolff in 1945 just as WW2 was...

Ireland, North and South — Black Market

I couldn't get a job because I was from the south of Ireland....

Davy Mitchell's German Spy By Bernard Mc Cormack

We would say “he was blind as a bat”, One Saturday morning we were playing around the lampost...

My First Job

The tanning powder was popular because there were no stockings to be had and women and girls would put the...

Joyce Cleland's Wartime Memories

However, because of their work at the docks, my granda, Paddy Murray, and uncles were often given apples,...

Ireland, North and South — Bombing

I used to feel sorry for the German people too, when they would bomb the whole city like Dresden and those...

Childhood Memories of the Blitz in Belfast

While my dad was carrying out his ARP duty on the streets of Belfast he would encourage my mum to use the...

An Unusual Wartime Hat

During the war my father drove a bus which regularly went on a run past the Gallagher's factory in...

Memories of a Wartime Childhood

I remember after the parade finished outside the Orange Hall, in Redburn Square, a machine which blew up...

The day I was Biggles

One of our neighbours, Ethel McCracken, had 2 sons serving in the war; Sidney in the army and Brian in the...

The First Night of the Belfast Blitz

We lived just off the Grosvenor Road near the centre of Belfast, and when we heard the sirens we left the...

The Yank ' Big Leo' by Bernard MC Cormack

The Yank: Big Leo’ By Bernard Mc Cormack Location: Derry, Northern Ireland. It had the famous white...

Mildred Davidson's memories of life in East Belfast

My father was a fireman and ambulanceman in East Belfast, down near the Albertbridge Road, and, as...

Barbara and Maureen's Story as Told By the Children of Strand Primary School: Memories of Belfast

Barbara and Maureen's Story as Told By the Children of Strand Primary School: Memories of Belfast. AS...

Child's Eye View

We had travelled a very arduous journey from Farnborough, Kent, via a stormy crossing of the Irish Channel...

Story of the Virgin Soldier (Trout Tickling)

As a ‘youngster’ Robert McIlroys father had taught him how to trap rabbits ,hares and how to...

Rationing in Ballymena

Someone in the country maybe gave the family a present of ½ dozen eggs or ½ lb of butter around...

The Sinking of German Subs.

The reason why we were sent there was to dispose of captured German submarines which had been towed into...

Visit to a U-Boat

A Visit to a U — Boat by Bernard Mc Cormack. When I first glimpsed at the V — Boat, it lay...

Memories of Belfast

I remember the Blitz very well… the first night I was very excited, the skies would be filled with...

Stringing Along

One day whilst off duty in Londonderry, a Petty Officer aproached me, asking if I'd do him a favour and...

The Perimeter Fence

A tall Perimeter fence ran the length and breadth of Maydown Airfield sealing off from the rest of the...

Going to the dentist WW2

I was taken out of my house in Ogle Street Armagh to the Cannal River Road in the middle of the night...

My War Memories: David in Co Antrim

My name is David Fleming from Ballymena, Co Antrim. He returned to Belfast to work in Harland and Wolffs...

Childhood in Wartime Belfast

There was a P.O.W. camp in Orangefield Primary School and we used to look through the fence.The prisoners...

Ballymena declares war, but life goes on

I was born in Ballymena, more accurately in Harryville, which although part of Ballymena has always kept...