大象传媒

The Easter Tuesday Blitz in Belfast
by
Sadie Howard

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Joan Thompson of SEELB staff on behalf of Sadie Howard and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

It was Easter Tuesday evening 1941. I had gone to the Astoria Picture House with a boy from church. We were coming out when the air raid sirens went so, as Sammy was a member of the Civil Defence and his post was Ravenscroft Avenue, just under the Holywood Arches, we ran down the road in record time.

It was a lovely moonlit night but East Belfast was taking a bashing. The bombing went on until six o鈥檆lock in the morning. When it eased off Sammy decided he would walk me home. I lived at the Mount, actually Mount Street, just round the corner from Prices shop. We walked along the Albertbridge Road and as we got up to
Templemore Avenue we realized that the 鈥淲ee Hospital鈥� as it was known had been hit by a bomb. I will never forget what I saw, the beds were hanging out of the windows. It was awful, I was too upset to cry.

I will always remember that night. Now as I pass along the Albertbridge Road on the bus I look up as I get to the hospital and I can still sees the beds hanging out of the windows.

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