大象传媒

This story was gathered, written and submitted to the 大象传媒 Peoples War by Peggy O'Donnell and Joan Henderson. The story was input to the BBc Peoples War by Brian Morgan. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Some notes re the period during WW2 around 1941/1942 in Derry City

My brother Seamus and his friend Kevin McFeely (both friends in their late teens) got work with the American Forces as trainee waiters and batmen for Colonel James Duggan and Lieutenant Tiegue.

The Americans had taken over the house in Northland Road which was used for the officers only. They were then transferred to the McFarland residence - Aberfoyle House.

Seamus and Kevin enjoyed their experiences there. Sadly Seamus is no longer with us but his friend can rhyme off all the details about working in Aberfoyle.
I asked Kevin what duties they had to carry out. 鈥淥h,鈥� he said, 鈥淪erve breakfast to the Officers, lay out their uniforms and take the laundry to the Good Shepherd laundry.鈥� For this and other duties, they were allowed to use a jeep.

The Filipinos were the cooks and general workers. They were great cooks and when distinguished guests were there everyone knew exactly what their duties were.

There were about 12/14 officers based at the house and there was always plenty of entertainment. The USO shows were top class. Stars such as Bob Hope, Frances Langford and Billy Gilbert (comedian) were a few of the big names to entertain the troops based in Derry. Glen Miller, the great band leader, whose music lives on, played in Belfast, so some of the officers travelled there to hear him.

Although rationing was very strict throughout the land there were no restrictions for the young Derry men employed by the Americans
The Canadian ship 鈥楽keena鈥� brought in the supplies - everything under the sun, so the young men were very well fed. They were given fruit, for example, bananas and oranges to take home. Seamus started to smoke and why not? All the brand names including Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, and Chesterfield were available to them at the price of 3 shillings and 4 pence for a carton of ten packs.

Outside this environment of course the grim reality of war was all around. The blackout for one thing, was strictly enforced. One elderly country lady used to visit my mother. She was well used to walking country roads where there were no lights but she always carried a bicycle lamp in her hand to light the way. One night on her way to visit at our house she was striding along swinging her lighted lamp when a policeman stopped her. 鈥淢am, what are you doing - are you signalling the Germans with that lamp?鈥� Each time she swung her arm the light was sweeping up and down like a beacon. She wasn鈥檛 fined on that occasion but was given a stern warning.

Having come through the war experience with all the difficulties, it is uplifting to know just how resilient the human spirit is.

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