大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with John Luke, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Mark Jeffers, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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Defences against 鈥渋nvasion鈥� then started to be set up. All roads leading out of town had concrete road blocks set up. These consisted of 3 sets of 3 large concrete pillars across the road. Holes in the pillars allowed railway lines to be pushed through, blocking alternate sides of each set of pillars, forming a chicane. Only one vehicle passed through at a time. In an emergency they would be manned by the Home Guard. There was also a block house covering most of these road blocks.

Some units of the Home Guard, mine included, were taught by the army to lay minefields. These could be laid both sides of the road block so that enemy vehicles couldn鈥檛 by-pass the blocks. It was all part of a delaying technique, not if the Germans invaded but when. In those days it was a very serious business. People were really frightened. Everybody not involved was told to stay indoors when invasion came and leave the way clear for the security forces. People were told to watch for anyone acting suspiciously such as spies and fifth columnists) and report them to the police. There were slogans such as 鈥淲alls Have Ears鈥�, 鈥淐areless talk costs Lives鈥�. The signal for invasion would be the ringing of church bells otherwise the ringing of the bells was forbidden. Because of the threat of spies or fifth columnists all road signs, mile stones, street names, anything that would indicate to a stranger where he was were removed. Some in Ballymena have never been replaced (names of terraces etc).

There was also the threat of air raids. Every household got 2 or 3 bags of sand. These were to deal with incendiary bombs. A stirrup pump was issued to one householder in roughly every 12 houses - they were just hand operated from a bucket of water. Our house had one. I used it quite often to wash my father鈥檚 car.

Everyone was issued with a gas mask which was supposed to be carried at all times in case of a gas attack when you were away from home. Children had to carry them to school and gas mask drill was part of the daily teaching. The alarm for 鈥済as attack鈥� was the sounding of a 鈥渉and rattle鈥� by the local warden. The hand rattle was locally known as a 鈥渃orncrake鈥� because of the noise it made. In earlier years they were used at football matches to cheer the team on.

Identity cards were issued to everybody and had to be carried. Police could demand to see them at any time. They were also used as proof of identity when applying for your ration books.

Blackout regulations were rigidly enforced. Every window and every skylight had to be covered during darkness, mostly with a black cloth which could be bought for the purpose. Strips of oilcloth (linoleum) or light wood had to be put up along the sides of the windows so that no light could shine past the side of the dark blinds. Skylights were often painted as were glass roofs on business premises, railway stations etc. Quite a lot of churches held their evening services in the halls as it was virtually impossible to blackout church windows. R.U.C and U.S.C patrols ensured that these regulations were adhered to.

Air raid shelters were built at strategic places in town but fortunately they were never needed in Ballymena. Accidents occurred with cars running into shelters in the blackout as some shelters were built on the side of the street. They were originally built of brick with heavy concrete roofs and I am told that in Belfast during the air raids that the brick walls collapsed with the blast and the roof fell in on top of the people inside. Later shelters were completely constructed of concrete.

Vehicle head lamps had to be restricted so that they would not be seen from the air. Originally a scoop similar to the scoop of a policeman鈥檚 hat was fitted at the top of the headlamp. Later on a proper head lamp mask was fitted. The head lamp glass was removed to facilitate this. The mask was made of metal and had 3 slots across it which showed very little light. Side lights, which in those days were mostly fitted on the mudguards of vehicles, had to be restricted to 1鈥� diameter. This was done by fitting a piece of metal with a 1鈥� hole inside the glass of the lamp. It was an offence to shine a torch outside. There were no street lamps during the blackout and it was very difficult to get around on a very dark night. Moonlight was a blessing but added to the possibility of air raids. Some poles and lamp posts had a white stripe painted round them to help people see them in the dark.

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