大象传媒

[ Robbie Crockett,
This story is taken from an interview with Robbie Crockett, 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.
====
I was doing a milk round, at Messines Park when I heard Chamberlain say 鈥渁 state of war now existed鈥�.
Those houses were built for soldiers after the battle of Messines in WW1
That鈥檚 where the only bombs dropped on Derry fell and 13 people were killed.

2p a pint. Terrible poverty, but when the war started there was money for everything.

I had nothing to do with the armed forces. Derry was a garrison 鈥� At Ebrington, the S Wales Borderers arrived. One day I saw them coming down, singing. A month later a lot were dead, sent to Naarvik in Norway where the Germans were occupied.

After Dunkirk Derry was full of soldiers. very poor accommodation. They were in nearly every wee town Sion Mills, Newtoncunningham etc and a lot of them under canvas. They had nothing.
At that stage we all assumed the Germans would invade.

The farmers put their agricultural implements in the field to make it hard for gliders to land. That was June 1940.

There were placards up round the town to show the various uniforms
And you were told don鈥檛 refuse them food 鈥� serve it up, but don鈥檛 make it appetising so they wouldn鈥檛 ask for it again.

It was OK here, but in the town when the sirens went off I never seen the roads cleared as quick.
Once I was in the pictures at St Columbs Hall, it flickered up on the screen 鈥淎ir raid warning, those wishing to leave please do so quietly鈥�
They went every way, over the seats!
I stayed, and 15 mins later the all-clear sounded.

The second bomb landed in the Artnz gravel pit. They didn鈥檛 leave a window in Pennyburn Chapel. Messines Park 鈥� no slates, no doors, no windows. They dropped about midnight.

Afterwards Derry was so heavily defended, gun batteries put up. 4 x 3.7 static AAA, radar-controlled at Sheriff鈥檚 mountain. There are 2 brick ramps in the field, there鈥檚 a paving post 7ft high and it was all netted at the top of it.
Swinging round, we didn鈥檛 know this was radar sweeping the skies, the most modern weapons yet. We had soldiers up there. Nearly always the UK army, on one occasion the US were in charge of the guns, the defence of the city.

Dad鈥檚 army, of which I was a member. I wouldn鈥檛 have said we were a force to be reckoned with. We were taught to man the guns. For 6 mths at Campsie we manned the guns at night. All we got was shouted at, no pay, but better fed than we would have been at home. It left a mark on me that I wanted nothing to do with the army.

The rationing was fair enough. Nobody hungry. Bread wasn鈥檛 rationed into NI. You could buy all the bread you wanted. You could go into any restaurant and get the best meal, it wasn鈥檛 rationed there. Butter was rationed, and meat. The price was controlled. But I never saw meat in short supply either, because when we wanted roasted meat we just went to Burnfoot. I went across the border and smuggled back a 10-stone bag of sugar. At that time there were snow, and I brought it up on a sleigh.
We were never short of sugar, for in the house I was the only one who took sugar. So we couldn鈥檛 complain. They were worse off in GB. And then they suffered the air-raids.

That night Derry was bombed, they blitzed Belfast. There was a book called 鈥淏ombs on Belfast鈥�. There were 600 people killed that night in Belfast.
The next night the roads were black with people all looking for a place to stay. 2 young fellows came in, mother put mattresses down for them. In the morning I forgot about them and tripped over them. I just said 鈥淏oys, if there鈥檚 an air raid in Derry you鈥檒l be needed there.鈥�
They took the hint, didn鈥檛 come back.
Hundreds came on bikes and foot, there were no cars.
Some actually built wee houses out of wood across the border. Wee shacks.

Along the strand there was a big water pipe, and at different places there was a big water supply. Shirt factories in Derry had thousands of girls making Army and RAF shorts. All at full capacity, overtime. Girls came down the Buncrana road on bikes in winter. The factory horns went off 鈥� 8.10am and 8.20am.

The RN was there from a very early stage. Then Holland, Denmark and Norway were overrun, their ships were ordered to UK ports. There were a lot of Norwegians in Derry 鈥� very obvious, blue-eyed blondes. And Dutch and French, all there then.
1941, then they got the Americans in. the Americans had everything, even ice cream. I went into their camp once. What they threw out as pigswill was amazing.

Springtown was the USN and USMC. They had pineapples, oranges 鈥�
It was all Nissan huts. When they came to build there, first time in Derry anyone saw a bulldozer. It wasn鈥檛 like the modern ones, it just had a blade.
That field was all pushed into terraces. Those huts must have been shipped in specially. They were up in no time.
There was no-one unemployed. If you were unemployed you were unemployable. The girls were all working in the short factories. A lot of girls were in the services or even in derry in the Fire brigade. The National Fire Service
Small stations
They had no big engines, but they towed a big pump. All very smartly dressed. Uniform was the thing

We dressed exactly the same as the army. At the end of the war we got certificates. 鈥淨ualified AA gunner.鈥�
We were all age groups. I was one of the youngest men there. There were old men then, in their 50s, willing to do their part.

The Republic had beet sugar, they made their own sugar.
Shops weren鈥檛 getting bags of sugar, boxes of butter 鈥� they got a ton of sugar, half-ton of butter. People queued and watched for the Customs. It went on all day and most of the night.
We had land across the border, growing oats and turnips. Brought in for cattle-feed. Customs caught us with turnips. I had to apply to Dublin for export licence and London for an import licence. You had to do it at certain times of day, and fill in 6 forms per load. One licence expired before the other, there was a vacuum.

We didn鈥檛 smuggle for profit, but to live! But a lot of people did. I鈥檓 old now, they all had one thing in common. They never had any money! At the time the people thought they were wealthy, but it didn鈥檛 stay. I knew people who didn鈥檛 squander it, but it seemed to leave them.
They were chancers. They got away sometimes, but sometimes they were caught, arrested, taken to court, goods confiscated, fined or jailed.
The move was get-rich-quick, it didn鈥檛 work.

Smuggling tea in a small way they鈥檇 lift the saddle off a bike, a 1/2lb tea down the pipe. Customs used a spanner.

Smuggling cattle in a big way during the 鈥渆conomic war鈥� with the UK.
Black cattle were the best, harder to identify. They swam them across the Foyle. One was a decoy, they swam it back to lead the next lot.
The dead animal on the knacker鈥檚 lorry, a bit of crude surgery, it would hold a lot of whisky bottles. I鈥檝e never seen it worked, but I believe it was used.
What you don鈥檛 know won鈥檛 hurt you.
A lot of smuggled drink was spiked with poteen. The Yanks paid big money. It made them drunk anyhow.
Whiskey was in short supply in the UK. Smuggled in horsedrawn vehicles 鈥� caught, confiscated, jailed in Sligo. Caught here, put in Derry jail. It wasn鈥檛 attractive, but people risked it because they thought the gains were big.

The Free State had the LSF 鈥� Local Security Force. very smart they looked. All infantry, they had plenty of rifles and ammo. The purpose of them was paratroopers 鈥� you were spread out in the countryside, you had to shoot them before they got down.

They hadn鈥檛 a blackout for the same reason 鈥� paraffin oil at a premium. The ration wasn鈥檛 enough. Most places hadn鈥檛 a light. Even a bike lamp had a shade. They were very strict. Every window needed black curtains.

To get to Campsie, Army lorry lifted us at a given point. They left us back again.

I would have been in my 20s, I didn鈥檛 dance until I was older.
Any dance we went to, it was all uniform. RAF, RN, USN 鈥�

The sailors crossed over. When you took off your cap you weren鈥檛 regarded as being in uniform. They hid their hat along the hedgerow, but when they came back they couldn鈥檛 find them.
The narrow-gauge train to Buncrana. They were sitting on the roof.
Buncrana restaurants did well. They could get tea! Here it was 15p a lb. There it was a pound a lb. A 10-stone bag of flour was 22 and 6p in Derry. It was worth 拢10 in Buncrana!

One morning a lady entered the farmyard.
鈥淚鈥檓 lost.鈥�
She dodged customs at night, but got lost in the dark.
鈥淲here are you from?鈥�
鈥淏耻苍肠谤补苍补.鈥�

There鈥檚 a mass grave at Faughn.
RAF planes went down, and Irish Army lorries came down. There was a guard of honour. They carried 16 coffins from the Irish trucks to the RAF ones.
48 RAF planes crashed in Donegal during the war. They couldn鈥檛 get back to Eglinton or Ballykelly.
16 was the crews of 2 planes. It wasn鈥檛 in the paper at all. Never mentioned how many killed, or who.
I鈥檓 sure bodies were washed in on the west coast. The convoys came in the 9-mile gap between Tory Island and the mainland. They came there to stay away from the subs. The planes at Limavady and Ballykelly overflew Donegal to get at the subs. They talked about Neutrality, but planes flew over. A pilot told me 鈥渨ho鈥檚 going to stop you?鈥�
Sqdns flying in formation! We didn鈥檛 think it was unusual. This came on you by degrees. Something new every day. 鈥淏lack soldiers stationed in Strabane.鈥�

Every letter here that came here was opened by the same person. They stamped it 鈥淧C 90鈥�. The censor. Anything military was cut out.
A postman in Tyrone told a family that paras had landed. He was arrested for false alarm!
People didn鈥檛 talk much about the war unless something big 鈥� Normandy or D-Day. 鈥淲ill son-and-so come back?鈥�
Most came back. A lot of my school class joined up. Many were in the RAF, killed 鈥� shot down over Germany or Holland, killed when 20. One man across the road was based in Malta, shot down twice, taken POW by the Italians. Italy surrendered, he was POW in Germany. He came home, was killed by a motorbike!

If you鈥檙e a veteran in Australia or NZ you鈥檙e on a pedestal. Here you鈥檙e just lucky to be back.

The night the war was over I biked into Derry. There were thousands there. The boats coloured all their searchlights. The sailors threw their caps in the air. I danced in Guildhall square. The war was over. Music and everything else. Until after midnight. You had to leave your bike out at Templemore so it didn鈥檛 get stolen. Some man got his bike stolen. He reported it to the RUC, they asked for the bike number. 鈥淭he one who took the bike took the number!鈥�

There were POW camps at Templemore. I remember German subs coming in to surrender. Either 39 or 41 subs.
鈥淭he boot seems to be on the other foot.鈥�
I knew a man who worked with the RN, they rushed down hundreds of beds and blankets for the Sub crews until they were transferred elsewhere.

15th Aug 1945 the Japs surrendered.

Everyone was working. Even the Americans kept gardeners.

The US cups had no handles. Big thick cups and bowls. Springtown camp, USMC, 1943. They played 鈥淭he shores of Tripoli!鈥� blaring over our place. We were all young then. A lot of them were just teenagers. Some of them were from the Midwest, never saw anything.
鈥淭hose yanks think that they can dance.
They can 鈥� like bloody elephants!鈥�

A lot of people who considered themselves a cut better wouldn鈥檛 be seen with a yank.

鈥淐oming in with a yank on a jeep,
Derry girls are pretty cheap.
They have Painted legs
and they鈥檙e smoking yankee fags.鈥�

That was the way it was.

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