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This story is taken from an interview with Michael Duffy, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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I grew up in Harbour St in Mullingar during the war.
I clearly remember the war because we used to play in the street — football and tig and all these kids’ games. The Govt came along and put these 2 huge cement blocks about 8ft high, 4-5ft wide and 6ft long on the top of the bridge over the canal. These were to stop German tanks — or British or American tanks — from coming.
But we turned them to our advantage. We spent all day jumping, playing ropes on them and what-not.

The food during the war was rationed. There was a pub and grocery at the end of the street. Jimmy Corkrans. And I was sent down twice a week. The back way, never down the street, because you’d be seen. I had to climb through logs and nettles and all that. Jimmy gave me 2-3 little packets with sugar, tea, maybe salt or something. When I came home you’d think I’d won the lotto, the welcome I used to get. The milk was rationed too. I used to have to walk about a mile and a half every morning with a can, out to Jimmy O’Brien’s in Robinstown. Jimmy would fill the can, and I couldn’t run. There was no lid on the can, it would spill. Again I’d get a good welcome, and then I’d go to 8 o’clock Mass.

The bridge was over the Royal Canal, which became a very very much-used mode of transport during the war. I can remember the barges. There could be 20 of them in the harbour there. The men used to light fires on the boat to cook their food. Light fires on a wooden boat. They had to bring in sawdust, pack it very very strongly or hard, and they’d have a pipe going into the sky. And they’d sit down, smoking their own pipe and cook the food. They’d give us bread or sandwiches.
Their horses were there at the side. The horses would be left to eat grass from the field just beside. And the horses would take off the next day, 2 big grey horses pulling the boats. And they could get to Dublin loaded in something like 12 hours — that would be about 48 miles.
They brought passengers and they brought food, and similarly they brought it back from Dublin down here. And passengers from further down the canal, down to the west of West Meath and parts of Longford also travelled that way.
And the trains were very scarce because the lack of fuel, but the boats came back in a big way during the war. And the harbour of Harbour St Mullingar was like Tilbury docks then!

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