ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

This story has been collected and transcribed by Mark Jeffers with permission from the author

In Westburn Street near Stanley College in Belfast there were forty-eight people killed during the second blitz on Belfast, which happened on Easter Tuesday. The sirens sounded but my mother decided not to stay in the air raid shelter. She went to the ARP station at the Queen’s Bridge instead; my father was in the ARP. A land mine was dropped and it hit our street and the street was flattened.

We had been evacuated previous to this and a few days later my mother came to Dungiven to where we were. We didn’t recognise my mother, father or brother because their faces were so black with dust.

The only three things my mother was able to retrieve from the house were a black elephant, my sisters doll and a wedding present which she had been given. She managed to find a piece of the parachute, which carried the landmine down.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.