大象传媒

By Amy Day

War Time Memories

Outbreak of war.

We all knew it was coming. Alfie my husband joined the RAF in April of 1939 and war was declared on the 3rd September. My parents, especially my mother who had a brother in the first world war, were very apprehensive.

That summer, our grocer Harold Graham of the Golden Tea Pot Newry (the big tea pot is still outside a shop there) advised my mum to stock up on certain items which were bound to go off the market, especially tinned food and long after the war started mum could go to the wooden chest and produce a tin of pears, peaches or pineapples on special occasions.

Black out The first thing we had to do was get black out blinds and every window had to be fitted out and these blinds drawn before we could put on a light in whatever room we would be using. Also the battery lamps on bicycles had to be half painted over the front so that the beam wouldn鈥檛 be too strong. Looking back it was rather stupid but that was the law. I nearly ran down some girls coming from Bessbrook Mill one winters evening when I was coming home from work because I didn鈥檛 see them to the last minute and heard words I had never heard before when I nearly hit them. The Easter night that Belfast was bombed my mother was visiting our neighbour who lived at the top of our lane. There brother and his wife had been up from Belfast and were going back home the next day. When they were leaving mum to the door, they heard this heavy droning noise and Jack Brown said 鈥淭hose aren鈥檛 our planes鈥� The Germans had come up Carlingford Lough where one side was completely blacked out but the other side was all lights. Greenmore, Carlingford and Omeath. We lived just outside Newry which was blacked out but they only had to stay to the left of the Mourne Mountains, to reach Belfast. After those big raids on Belfast when the siren went off in Newry everybody took to the hills wheeling prams etc to get out of town. Gerald my brother and myself were at the pictures in town one night when the siren went of and we all had to leave the building. Gerald forgot his cap and went back for it. I wasn鈥檛 too happy about this but it could have turned out to be a false alarm, as usual.

Rationing We all got ration cards for food, clothes and sweets. Food for us was ok as we lived on a farm. Mum churned three times a week and we would have exchanged butter for clothes coupons with several large families who didn鈥檛 need or couldn鈥檛 afford to use all theirs: My brother had a very good friend who spent a lot of his time on the farm with us and every week he cycled to Dundalk and brought back enough sugar for his own family and us. Everything was utility and very basic. Of course there was also the black market.

After the war when we were allowed to use cars again for ordinary journeys (there weren鈥檛 very many) we still needed coupons. I knew a chap who worked for an oil company and he could always get us coupons. We paid 2/= for a gallon of petrol and 2/6 for a black market coupon.

Smuggling This was a great racket as we lived so near the border. We would have cycled to Dundalk or Omeath, or take the train. We would also take the train to Dublin as I had an uncle who lived in Sutton and would have gone up fairly often. My first proper long frock which we always wore to the dances was made in Dublin. Uncle Jimmys secretary knew someone in this shop who had it made for me. I was warned by my uncle not to mention his name if I was caught by the customs. I also smuggled my first pair of long fur boots made by Clarkes from Dundalk and they were an absolute Godsend as I used to suffer terribly from chilblains in the winter. Cycling most places didn鈥檛 help. My uncles housekeeper, Katy loved tea and she would have used the tea leaves over and over. I always would have brought up tea to them and one day I was challenged, allowed to keep my pound of tea but warned not to do it again. Also a great treat was to get a Knickerbocker Glory of ice cream, whipped cream and fruit. I鈥檒l never forget that taste.

By late 1940 the soldiers started arriving. They were located in Bessbrook, Newry, Narrow Water Castle, Warrenpoint and there was an airfield Cranfield out side Kilkeel.

Christmas 1940 our church asked us to take 2 solders on Christmas Day and 2 on Boxing day. They had just come from Dungannon to Bessbrook and he thought this would be a nice gesture. So of course my mother obliged. After that they came regularly to 鈥榯he farm鈥� as well as bringing other pals we also got to know others through social gatherings. We had many letters of appreciation from them after they left Bessbrook. We would have played cards, had sing songs round the piano or just yarned and before they left they had something to eat. One evening mum had boiled eggs for tea. Tom didn鈥檛 know what to do with this egg so he watched the others then took his knife and with one great swipe sent half his egg across the kitchen table much to the disgust of his friends. It was a Scottish regiment the Fife and Forfar who were in Bessbrook and they were a tank regiment. One Sunday morning these two lads arrived at the house (they had promised to let us drive one sometime) in this tank and as my parents were at church, Gerald and myself had a go at driving this tank round our stockyard. It didn鈥檛 do the surface much good and my father was none too pleased when he saw it. The 5th Welsh regiment were stationed in Newry and they paraded to the church every Sunday morning behind a lovely white goat. The Churchill speeches were a great high light during the war and we all listened intently to these. No one dared make a noise while he was speaking. This particular night after he had finished we all gave a great cheer and this English chap who had been rescued at Dundalk thought his ship had been hit and he had got oil in his lungs, gave a whoop hit his knees with his hands, threw his feet in the air overturned the rocking chair he was sitting in and landed in the corner with the chair on top of him. There was a stunned silence and then the younger ones started laughing while the older ones rescued poor Jack. After that my mother put two wedges under the rockers and it never happened again. Later
on when the Home regiments moved out the Americans came. The 鈥淏lack鈥� men were stationed in the Nissan huts over in the woods while the 鈥淲hite鈥� Americans were stationed in the halls. They never mixed and the Blacks were not allowed to come to the church canteen, much to our Minister鈥檚 disgust. The only one allowed in was an MP. A Black MP would accompany a White MP patrollong the village at night and they would drop in sometimes for tea.
We started a WVS in Mullaghglass and would meet once a week to make camouflage nets, knit socks. We collected jam jars and paper for War Savings and ran dances to make money for the Red Cross.
Our lives during the war was full of incidents but when V E day came we were all greatly relieved and delighted and celebrayed with dances all round the country. Some friends called and I went5 with them to the British Legion Hall in Poyntzpass, where we danced all night with the Belgians , who were stationed nearby.
I forgot to mention that in summer we used to go down to Warrenpoint and sit along the wall watching the people who came by train from Portadown and Belfast to cross over Omeath by boat. They would get all sorts of things and also quite a few drinks. We would watch while the customs men would relieve them of a lot of their purchases and when they came back many a barney went on between them. But when I think of the type of smuggling that goes on nowadays what we smuggled was really peanuts yet the customs men seemed to be everywhere, anyway were still surviving.

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