大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with James Doherty, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Anita Cochrane, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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15th, 16th of April was the big night.

Another little piece of history, that鈥檚 not really fully, either for some reason or other, in Govt papers or anything else, it鈥檚 never been recognised that the raid on Belfast, with the exception of London, was the biggest raid on any city in the UK. And we hear about Coventry, Liverpool, Birmingham, and stuff like that. But the Belfast raid for damage done, the extent of the raid, the duration of the raid, was the heaviest. It was actually a Blitz, as they called it. It wasn鈥檛 an air raid, it was a blitz, and it was the heaviest blitz, with the exception of London, on any city in the British isles. So that was the 鈥� what happened after that is all stories, individuals had different experiences on that particular night.

But as I say, earlier on in the night I鈥檇 been standing at the corner, another little story, very still lives with me, at the corner of N Queens St. And an old constable, a chap called Hall, and we were standing there. Early on in the night, and we heard some voices 鈥� young people, coming up Cliften St. There had been a Ceili in the Ulster Hall that night, and the, well of course the sirens went, the announced it, that people would be as safe staying there instead of going home. So these young people, I knew them, they were also wardens - from a post, not in my own post but across the way from where I was standing, in Trinity Street. They had left the hall to report for duty. The other people stayed in there. Delia Murphy, she sang all night 鈥� a marathon, a marathon sing-song. But she did save lives. But these 6-7 young people did come out, and they spoke to us about a good night. I think their last words were 鈥淚鈥檒l likely see you later鈥�. Well, I didn鈥檛 see them later. They had no sooner disappeared into the darkness within minutes, the old policeman who was with me, he tugged my arm. Caught me, sometimes I can nearly feel the grip he put on my arm. And he says 鈥淲hat鈥檚 that, lad? What鈥檚 that, lad?鈥� well, I knew you couldn鈥檛 see a bomb, it was silent, there was only one thing he could have seen was a parachute mine. And if he saw it, it wasn鈥檛 too far away. I threw him to the ground, pushed him, shouted 鈥淒own鈥�, threw him to the ground and threw myself down beside him. Now, within seconds that mine went off. It hit the spire of Trinity Street Church, which was just down Trinity Street, devastated the area. There was a big playground there, built on it, all round by Trinity Street, Karikellen, out into Cliften Street. We lay down on the ground there, with no protection, just on the open ground beside the old poor-house as it was then. Brick-bats and stuff blew round us. But by a miracle we got up. A granite church, devastated, buildings devastated, and of us caught out in the open, just shock, and not a scratch. A real miracle, nothing less. But had we been standing, we鈥檇 have been blown to pieces. The blast just sort of passed over us, and brickbats, glass, dust and everything came down round us. But as far as we were concerned, we stood up and 鈥�

Well, the elderly gentleman, I just advised him to go back. I walked up the length of the Glennevin Street barracks, he went in, I came back myself personally to the scene, devastated. I was wandering about just a few of the places as best as I could, in the darkness. I knew there was nothing could do. The blast of the bomb, it had been an air blast, there was no energy wasted doing a crater in the ground. It hit the spire in the air, and the full blast, it was a terrific blast, it was all blast. So the devastation was heavy. But at any rate, I took an idea, just wandering about aimlessly, and I took an idea that I would just stop walking and shout. So I let out a few shouts about, if there was anyone about could hear me, reply, or something like that. And I collected about 12 people. Injured, but limping but not buried. They鈥檇 actually been caught in the blast, or flying glass and what not, or things like that. And got them all together, walked them out into Cliften St, down into Frederick St. There was a little air-raid shelter there, and I left them there and told them I would get them some help. Now, telephones were down, there was no communication, we had no walkie-talkies or mobile phones in those days. A message had to be delivered by hand by a runner. So rather than run back to the post, I was nearer to the HQ in Academy Street. I went down there, collected some help, brought them to where I had these casualties in the air-raid shelter, where I left them in the small air-raid shelter in Frederick St, and moved off home. And then came the biggest shock of the lot, as I entered my own street. Cranburn St, it was in ruins. A pile of rubble, debris, and where my house had been was nothing but a mass of stone. But as I say, shock more than anything else. I think I stood there for a couple of minutes, just stunned. Because I thought that my own parents were in there, my sister had just 鈥� and I hadn鈥檛, I could do nothing for them. But some of the boys came along and says to me 鈥淵our family鈥檚 all right, we got a lot of the people out.鈥� Some we didn鈥檛 bother. The old air-raid shelters, unfortunately, were bad. They were left unattended for years 鈥� no light, dark, dreary, smelly dungeons. In fact, all over the city on their own people threw rubbish into them or used them for, drunk men used them for public conveniences. So they weren鈥檛 the best place to be. But nevertheless, those who went to the public shelters in the most of cases were safe. Sometimes shelters were hit, but for the bigger part they were bad, they were bad construction and one thing and another. But they did save lives. In my own particular case they saved the lives of my family and some of my neighbours. Some didn鈥檛 go to the shelter in Lincoln Avenue, just at the top of my own street and through a follow-way. 15 people were killed in Lincoln Avenue. They were killed in their own houses, the devastating. If it was a mine it had been meant, it would take it, for Victoria Barracks, because Victoria Barracks was just across the road, in behind Pymm Street. And instead of hitting there it hit out in the open, on the Antrim road. It destroyed Lincoln Ave, Cranborn St and all round that area. And as I say, 15 people were killed in Lincoln Ave.

[not from the same families]
Oh yes, the families were partly 鈥� now, there was a family called Hall. They never got their bodies. 2 old people, they were blown to smithereens. They never got their bodies. A court declared them dead, but they didn鈥檛 鈥� another family, the Sarafel, the little boy, little girl, father and mother. And I identified the 2 children. Now, my first identification was a leg. A little boy鈥檚 sock he used to wear, a little fancy sock. The head of a little girl, flexing the 鈥� I knew the children, as a matter of fact I have some sorry memories of children. I said I鈥檇 been patrolling the streets before the blitz, the children used to come after me and I used to put my tin hat onto them. And they liked that kind of stuff. And as I say, I have memories not only in my own street but throughout the district that a lot of the bodies that I actually held, taking them out of the debris, were some of the children who used to follow me through the streets. Now that is a true 鈥� but as I say, it鈥檚 one of the things that sticks with you. It was a bad night, and suppose people say to me 鈥渨ere you not frightened?鈥� I don鈥檛 know. I know I kept me senses together, and perhaps it is, a bit, I was. But I can certainly say I never lost control, and I think people who knew me, the fact that they saw me, and saw how I was acting, I do know I had that, whether it was a blessing or a charm or something, I could have just by my appearance, settled a panic.

They were bad. And then, during the night there was a family living in Euston St. It was a big family, they were scattered through the area. They had the other end of their family in Burke St had been wiped out. Relations in Burke St, that little St was wiped out. Practically everybody there was killed, and as I said the night went on. Sirens went, and we were back to the post, just making arrangements, sending out a recon people just to find out where the damage was. The irony of the affair, although we were sending messages for help, there was no help. All the services were undermined. There was too much to do. They never could have handled the situation, at any rate.
But what numbers we had on the ground, the fire service and the ambulance service, there was no big impulse into them. Volunteers were scarce, and the equipment wasn鈥檛 there. That鈥檚 why you hear the stories of the fire brigades, came up from Dublin and the South. Now, although they came their equipment was different from ours. That happened. We could even have got volunteers from Derry. But their equipment wouldn鈥檛 have fit our stam-pipes. So what they, most of the firemen from the south did was they relieved the firemen and used the Belfast equipment. Their knowledge of how to use it, it was just their equipment wouldn鈥檛 have worked on out stam-pipes. The couplings wouldn鈥檛 have met up. But they did a good job. They relieved the men who were battling the fire, and at the 50th anniversary, round about this time, there was still a few of them knocking about, and I was asked to address a meeting at the City Hall. And I met a few of these old firemen. I didn鈥檛 know any of them, but I knew 鈥� They were introduced, they were veterans. There was only 2 or 3 of them, 50 years later, I was still around and I鈥檓 still here another 10 years. So maybe I have a story to tell, maybe it鈥檚 worthwhile telling. But as I say, that was just a little incident. 50 yrs after the war, that I met some of these young firemen 鈥� they were elderly men now, who were. Why they had me there was, the Lord Mayor, he had just passed a remark, and I was to take over and welcome these people, one old soldier welcoming another. But that was it.

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