´óÏó´«Ã½

I lived in Ballynure Street, off the Oldpark Road in Belfast during the Blitz. I was at a dance at Cliftonville Circus , when I heard the sirens and hurried to get home . I was just in through the front door when an Oil bomb came through the roof. My sister lost her eye — the rest of the family were very fortunate and weren’t injured except for me.

Another bomb fell on the other side of the street. This bomb flattened half of the street and killed a number of neighbours. I was carried out through the bay window of my house and was taken the local Mater Hospital, I had been hit by shrapnel, my wound was 18 inches long and the shrapnel missed my lung by around half and inch. I can’t remember much after that — except that the sky was lit up with flares.

I was in hospital for 4 weeks and then went to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry. My family had to live with relatives as their house was gone. We lost everything and had to depend on the goodwill of neighbours and friends to give us things to tide us over.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.