大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Sarah Graham at the Royal British legion, Bangor, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Anita Cochrane, transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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[You were 16 when the war started?]
Round about.
The very first air raid sirens I heard was when my boyfriend took me to the Ulster Hall for All-in wrestling. And there was a character in Belfast who always took a lion with him. 鈥淏uck Alec鈥�. I was real frightened because my dad didn鈥檛 know I was going. And we ended up in the Ulster hall. During that time the lion was there but the lion had no teeth, actually. But you didn鈥檛 know that.
Then the sirens went. That was the first time they went, and we started to run out. We were told to get out. The place we were put into was the City hall in Belfast. Of course, I started to cry. I wanted my mummy. I didn鈥檛 know what was happening.
When everything settled down my husband went back to the Old Park Road and I went back to the Ormeau road. He left me home to the Ormeau road. and that was the start of it.

[was there any bombs dropped?]
At that time there was just an awful lot of unrest. The first time I heard that I was lying reading an old fashioned love story. Mills and Boon. And I wakened up and I could see these sort of lights. I didn鈥檛 know what they were, we lived on the Ormeau road. And it was the River lagan at the bottom of the street. This was what they called 鈥淔laming onions鈥� then. It was, they were coming in from the south up the Lagan to the aircraft factories and that.
We thought it was lovely, all these mystery lights, but it wasn鈥檛.
Wee small things just dropping. And that was that. That started up.

[were you working at that time?]
Later on I did work. I worked in part of the Aircraft factory. Now it wasn鈥檛, it was a branch from that. I worked on the Cable assembly on the Stirling bomber.
That was during the war, to get some money and it was a good time, Night Shift and Day Shift. Mum did that as well.
Good old days and bad all days.

[Unusual job for a woman?]
It was an easy job. It was cable assembly. Certain lengths to put ends on for the electrician.

[did you get married?]
I was Married in about 42. During the war. I was billeted out when my Husband was called up. [he was in] 502 coastal command. I did [go with him]. He was billeted out in Cornwall, at St Ivel. There was about 3 or 4 other irish girls. We were just married then. They weren鈥檛 going to take us in then, because the Inniskilling fusiliers had been there. Actually, the boys had been about to go into battle, and they destroyed the little village pub and that. So it was 鈥�
my husband was there. He ended up, he was posted from the sqdn because he signed the paper to go anywhere, his brother and him. He ended up at the relief in Belsen. At that tyime, married and that. It changed him then. He was a young man, glamour boy and that.

He came back safely, [but] he wouldn鈥檛 talk anything about it. But it does change a very gentle nature into something 鈥� if someone complains about something, they haven鈥檛 any complaints.

I had no children then. I just had the one daughter, 1944 Maureen was born. And that was that.

It had to be emergency wedding. You had to leave it to the church to have you married in a few hours if you got leave and that.
It was [on the Ormeau road], it was at All Saints' parish church. And it was an AF wedding. And the Reception was at -
You couldn鈥檛 get a photographer at a set time. It was an Anderson shelter where the wedding was all displayed and that. Beautiful. On the top of an Anderson shelter on the Old Park road.

The [Anderson] shelter was where you went when an air-raid came. It was made of something very heavy, Steel. You got in underneath that. You stood in your own house but you got underneath that. In our house on the Ormeau road we didn鈥檛 have that. My dad, he was working on the Banks of the lagan with the Water cannon. He used to go out at night and say 鈥淪it on the stairs鈥�. But we didn鈥檛 know anything, and we were on the stairs, my 2 brothers and I. And this night I heard this Awful scream.
My dad would say 鈥渋f they come over here they鈥檒l never get back鈥�.
One of my brothers, he started to squeal. The Air Raid Wardens came in to see that we were all alright. Well, we were all alright. It was a mouse was on the stairs! That鈥檚 all it was.

Then I went through London. We stopped in the Union jack hostel when we were moving around.

[it must have been a tough time for a young mother]
My chum, her Brian was only a couple of months and we took him the whole way to Cornwall. On a train, an Army train with all Troops on it.

[you had to live in Billets?]
We just didn鈥檛 realise what was happening. If we鈥檇 have known we wouldn鈥檛 have done it. This is the thing. But I love Cornwall. And the lady I was billeted out with, she wanted to adopt me. Because Albert had been posted a couple of times, and then she said 鈥淪ure I鈥檒l adopt you鈥�. A lovely wee Cornishwoman.

[weren鈥檛 you in barracks?]
You weren鈥檛 allowed. You were billeted out on people that were to take you. They got a list of people they were to take, a couple, and then her husband was billeted around the corner.
we spent quite a lot of time on the beach. And they were flying over, we didn鈥檛 know where they were going. To Ireland and that.

[wasn鈥檛 it dangerous in Cornwall? It鈥檚 just on the channel]
It鈥檚 beautiful. It鈥檚 very very close, yes.

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