大象传媒

Mrs Nancy Boggs,
\This story is taken from an interview with Mrs Nancy Boggs, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview was by Deirdre Donnelly, and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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The Sunday my husband announced from his pulpit in Faulken Vale church that war was declared. It was a very shocking experience.
We didn鈥檛 recognise the implications. The Church halls were taken over to house the soldiers and army girls who built the Airfield here at Eglinton. Soon they were measuring gardens for places to put poles, radar and so on even our manse garden.

My husband became chaplain for the army camp. There were 8 gun sites he was responsible for. The service people were made to go to church but they were lonely, and got to know each other. We made a lot of friends ourselves and would run social evenings to lift everyone鈥檚 spirits.The Sunday night thing was a social event. There was nothing else. They got a cigarette as a prize.
The army finished building the AFB, then they left. The RAF took over. They were unusual 鈥擜 huge crowd of personnel.

My husband was appointed chaplain to the RAF in 1941. These big planes started coming in. We didn鈥檛 know what was going on. They built a HQ on Anson site, a famous old jail owned by Mr Drew Gallagher.

After the RAF arrived there were Canadians who wanted to come into the war, and came over and joined them. They were the Eagle squadron. A local man in the village, Nat McGlinchy, can tell you about them. They brought their own planes 鈥� Hurricanes and Spitfires.
They were very nice men. Some of them got killed on the way over.
We had 3 children.My eldest son had nightmares, because he saw the boys being buried after their planes crashed and heard the rifle fire over the graves. A number were exhumed and taken home after the war. English, Scotsmen, a few Dutch too.

We had a Major and his wife billeted on us for 6 months. Major and Mrs Ross, from Inverness.

We didn鈥檛 know if there would be an air attack or invasion. The Home Guard was started, and my husband joined. He was trained as an officer, a Capt, as well as being RAF chaplain. He could have been called out , as happened one night. It was a beautiful summer evening. Late at night, we heard 鈥渃lip clop鈥� like horse along the main road. We thought it was an invasion. I watched my husband walk out. They met up as 鈥淏 Unit鈥� at Eglinton.

The invasion scare passed.
The shoreline on the Foyle was done with pegs and wire.

There was coastguard patrol and hut on the banks of the Foyle. The ramp鈥檚 still there, in case planes crashed in the Lough. It was mainly mud flats there. We didn鈥檛 have helicopters at that time, but they managed to get the pilots out. Today, 60 years later, there are still bits of plane down there.

A young man from Canada called Wright crashed, an accident of course. He was rescued and brought to the sick bay where I was.
My husband was with him when he died. His father wrote to us and kept in touch.

It changed from RAF to RN. That was the most important work.
All activities went to Anson site. They had facilities 鈥� a church, a Tennis court 鈥� my husband played to keep the team up to scratch.

Our shipping lines were ruined by subs coming over the north of Ireland to England with supplies from USA.

In 1942, half way through the war, the Americans came. Great men. A site called Benbow was made specially for them. A whole lot of them. They were very friendly. They came to the manse and gave my husband a box of sweets once a month to give to the children.
His conscience got to him, because he was chaplain.

They all went suddenly to the Middle East, with Wavell.
They were a great crowd.An Eagle sqdn man named Edwards is still in touch with Nat McGlinchy.

I had 3 children, young children, so I wasn鈥檛 able to take part as much as I should have. We had a car, I kept the boot packed with childrens鈥� clothes and food. If there was a raid I could take the children to Semples of Kasaveeren, that was a house I was to go to. Fortunately that never happened.

We had a Major and his wife billeted on us for 6 mths. Major and Mrs Ross, from Inverness.
Renee Hatch was next. She was in the RN. She lives in Belfast now. She married a nice man named Cecil Hatch. He wasn鈥檛 a pilot, but a gunner or something on a plane.
Her father and mother didn鈥檛 want her to marry him. They rang us to see if they could stop the marriage. But Cecil was so nice to them, the tables turned. He became a teacher in Belfast.They were a real love match

Jimmy Nelson of the Eagle Sqdn and his wife Jean honeymooned in our house. She was a Belfast girl, full of beans. They just decided to tie the knot, and my husband married them. They stayed with us, I don鈥檛 think they had as long as a fortnight. He moved back to USA and took her with him.

A whole busload of evacuees arrived in Eglinton after the bombings in belfast in 1941. They were taken to a hall and distributed. We ended up getting 2 girls. This was the end of June, the first year of the war. Everybody had to take 2. The 2 I got were Belfast girls. We had no fish and chips, cinema, nothing! They just had to sit about. June, July, August. Their parents used to visit and have tea with us on Sunday afternoon. On rations it wasn鈥檛 easy, and they didn鈥檛 bring us anything.

The RN were different to the RAF. Very officious and particular. They insisted my husband become Officiating Chaplain, the highest rank he could have, not being in the forces.
He had a service every Sunday morning in the camp.
The only person I know he had contact with was the various captains of the camp. Other than that, I don鈥檛 know.

Xmas wasn鈥檛 a very happy time. Any toys for my children I got from my sister, and she was 11 years older than me. There was no fun, no parties for children. Nothing like that. It was a very bleak time.
When the war was declared over we had a fancy dress parade and a fireworks display.
The radio was brought by John Lamerton to the church.

We only got light in our house because my husband was camp chaplain. We got light for free,. When the RN left, the army came in. So it was back to the army again.

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