大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Maeve Kelly, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview was by Deirdre Donnelly, and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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At the start of the war, a Sunday mornning, 3rd Sept 1939. we were on holiday in Buncrana.
Then we had to go back to school. It didn鈥檛 mean anything. All was quiet for a year. Nothing happened.
My sister joined the WRENS. I did the same thing. To show me what was going on in the outside world I鈥檇 never met an American or few Englishmen. I had to get used to their accents. Thanks to them my life began. I was a Convent Sisters of Mercy girl. We thought we were the greatest. But we were very ordinary people. Thanks to the Americans I learned about hot-dogs, nylon stockings, their language, different time-keeping.
It would have taken a lifetime to learn. The war brought me into a real life I wouldn鈥檛 have
I was in an office in the stores. You were placed in a job. The boats went up the Foyle to Smith Stores at the Guildhall, were we gave out duffle coats and boots, for sailing in the North Atlantic. Food. We supplied everything fro these men. All very interesting. To me 1 lb butter was 1lb butter. But there was a different way of weighing things.
I was always madly in love. I met Fergus Sandyman of 鈥淪andyman Port & Wine鈥�. There were very good eligible boys in Derry, but they were Derry men.

I鈥檇 never seen a black man before. They all came up the Foyle. Your whole life became a life.
I would have married a nice Derry fellow and lived quietly. I never knew it could be a challenge.
I was sick to my stomach with love. It was just lovely waiting for the boat 鈥� corvette or warship. There was great tragedy about it too. They came in for a refit, sailed down the Foyle into the North Atlantic, and you might never see them again. They were in their very early 20s, just as you were. So there was sadness.

Tied up behind the Guildhall you could have walked across the ships to Browning Drive.

It was not permitted to let children alone onto a ship. It would have to have been organised.

The social life was excellent. You main worry was that you didn鈥檛 confuse the 2 dates you had 鈥� 1 in afternoon, 1 in evening. That you called Joe, Joe and John, John. You had to keep their names right. We went dancing to the Guildhall, the Corinthian. We took the bike to Culmore, sitting on the crossbars.

Glen Miller Orchestra. The music had words to it.
The Mem 鈥� the Memorial Hall, up on the walls.

They booked you for a couple of hours.
You had to be home at 11pm each night. If you didn鈥檛, you weren鈥檛 allowed out the next night. It paid you to get home.It was an entirely new life for me. I lived every moment. Had Derry remained the same, I can鈥檛 think what the life would have been like.

You saw so many VIPs in your work. One day a group of US troops came along
鈥淲ho鈥檚 the little man in the middle?鈥�
鈥淓isenhower.鈥滻 was told.
But you were in the frame of mind. He was just a little man in a uniform.

Into Magee. It wasn鈥檛 what it is now. Osborne House. It was a very important place. It was the whole 鈥� wireless, phones and everything for the entire Western Approaches 鈥� the joint headquarters. Derry was a very important base throughout the war. It was the very last to close down worldwide. I was in there, fascinating, going into a room, all these clocks on the wall. All the different countries coming into Derry. And you had to learn that. Fast! All those times, and all the Americans different accents. The way they ate. Their lives were entirely different. Still are. I just watched and thought 鈥渟o that鈥檚 the way they live鈥�.

[What about the Bunker. I heard about the Radio room being a concrete structure]
Osborne house. It鈥檚 now demolished.Everything was there. It was a very important place.
Once I looked over and said 鈥渢hat鈥檚 a very handsome man. I wonder who he is鈥�
He just happened to be Prince Philip!
It was a great old life.

It was very spooky with the blackout. You got used to it, carried a torch. When you didn鈥檛 have to go out you stayed in. Black curtains hung from every window. You managed with the food rationing and everything.... but we had no problem with food rationing in Derry, we could go across to Buncrana or Bridgend or Muff. There never was any problem. Derry was lucky.

American chocolate. And people forever chewing gum. They introduced all those aspects of life I never saw before, and thoroughly enjoyed.

The average Derry girl to me is very beautiful. They would have met these sailors, army, Marines, at the dances. The yanks gave parties at Lisnahalley.
The girls had a marvellous time. They dressed beautifully and enjoyed themselves. Some of them got married. Lots of them. And lots of them married Derry girls and stayed here. Even now, still here.

[what about the Lisnahalley POWs?]
I did see the U-Boats coming up the Foyle and surrendering at Lisnahalley. For some reason I seemed to be the only female there.

We were at Ebrington Barracks.One of the RN officers said 鈥渨ould you like to come down to Lisnahalley? To witness the surrender of the U-Boats鈥�.
I said 鈥渋t鈥檚 a good idea, it鈥檒l get me out of the office.鈥�
We went and sat and waited.

Lisnahalley widens out, and Culmore is over there. Then there鈥檚 Lisnahalley. Then the river widens out down into the Foyle. Away in the distance I saw this, and I thought it was an ordinary fishing boat that belonged to Moville. But no, it kept coming. Then I could see it was very long. It was 13 subs, 1 after another. They all came up and surrendered at the docks in Lisnahalley.

That was very sad. Terrible life, living and working on a sub anyway. And there we saw the surrender of these 13 u-boats.
There was a huge big shed. The only person they took away separately in a car was the Captain of all these U-Boats. It would have been at that time they put the men into lorries and took them away. But where they took them, I can鈥檛 say. I don鈥檛 know.

It was a very important time for me and those young Germans. They would have been kept there until the war was over. Where they were kept, I don鈥檛 know.

Everybody鈥檚 life changed. In the way you ate, dressed, in some cases the way they talked. Some locals took on a Yankee accent. We were used to the RUC all our lives thumping about Derry, but we never did experience the Shore Patrol. And I can see them now, big sailors, huge men. They would just appear. Say there was a tiny scuffle in the Guildhall Square, these 6 men appeared just like that. When they chose to raise their batons, they knocked the living hell out of everybody. They ruled the roost. Then with the Brit military police. Everything was kept well under control. They might have had a fight. But they knew they would come out worse in the end 鈥�

I remember Xmas very well, for the difference from our normal Xmas to the Americans鈥�. They completely went to town on Xmas, as they still do in USA. Our Xmas was very happy, plenty to eat. But they completely went to town. Guildhall Square was festooned with all sorts of decorations鈥� don鈥檛 get me wrong. Don鈥檛 forget there were Russians and Spanish, French sailors all in Derry. It was a very interesting time.
Xmas dance with the Americans. If they said they would have a party in Derry, that meant every street in Derry. Everyone was invited to the party!
They did things in a bigger different way than the Canadians and they really didn鈥檛 like one another. Never did.

It was an interesting time, shaped my life.

The people who were with me from Derry during the war, I still meet up with them. Still keep up the old friendships.The Americans and French-Canadians were all so different. It was an experience. But you knew it was gong to end. So you started organising a job. I got one in Ebrington barracks
拢2 a fortnight, or was it 拢4? Nice place 鈥� for a barracks.
First of all it was ... It belonged to the army. HMS Ferret. You got a cap badge. They did all Naval things in it. It became HMS Sea Eagle. It was nearly all British, not American.

The little ferry from the back of the Guildhall went over in about 20 mins. Those were happy times even though it was wartime.

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