VE day :when the guns fell silent ... and celebrations commenced
Today 75 years ago, Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared Victory in Europe and the end of the Second World War. Leona O’neill talks to four NI people whose memories of that time are still vivid this day
‘There were big parties, music and dancing. Everyone was happy’
Bangor widow Marlene Mcdowell (83) had five children with her husband James. The former Whites Home Bakery employee lived in the Sydenham area of Belfast with her mum Hilda and dad Billy during the war. The proud grandmother and great-grandmother remembers the entire family hiding under the stairs as German planes dropped bombs, destroying the next street over.
“We lived in a three-bedroomed house in Aigburth Park in the Sydenham area of Belfast,” she says.
“Hillfoot Street was about 30 yards from our house. One night the German bombers were targeting the shipyard and the aircraft factory. I remember the sirens going off. There was a shelter immediately outside our house but we didn’t use it as it smelled quite bad and we didn’t like it. We just stayed in the house and gathered under our stairs. I remember the sirens blaring and seeing everyone run up the street towards Stormont. The street was packed with people but my dad said we weren’t going and was of the mind that if it was meant to be, it was meant to be.
“So, my mum, dad, my two brothers and I were under the stairs. It was around 9pm. I could hear the heavy drone of the planes, it was almost deafening. They were heading towards the shipyard. We could hear the bombs exploding and the ground shaking. I was only a little girl of eight-years-old. I don’t remember being frightened. My mum and dad had a great sense of humour and kept us calm. Dad would sometimes sing.
“That night Hillfoot Street, the next street over, was totally demolished, there was nothing left of it. When the bombing was over we went out to see. The houses were all destroyed and on the next street over they had dropped incendiary bombs there, too, and they were on fire. Those bombs could have fallen on our house. When the council cleared the ground they brought in an emergency water supply. And us children thought this was just fabulous, because we had an outdoor swimming pool and we really made use of it.”
Marlene remembers the sense of community spirit of the era, the sights children would see and the people they got to meet — including movie stars.
“We lived at the end of a terrace and we had metal railings around our garden; as part of the war effort you had to give up your garden if you had railings. Because my father and his two brothers were great gardeners they had greenhouses and grew vegetables. So, my father got permission to keep our garden and railings as long as he supplied the district with potatoes and carrots and all kinds of vegetables. My brothers and I would pile our cart with food and go around the district and give out the vegetables.
“To the children, it was fun. We didn’t really know the context of war. We just saw things happening around us. I was often at my granny’s house in Bangor. I remember looking out of the window one day and seeing, at the bottom of the Donaghadee Road, troops of American soldiers in a camp. There were hundreds of them. Among their number were actor Clark Gable and General Eisenhower. We were young children and thought that this was all just amazing.
“My grandmother allowed some of the troops to use her bathroom facilities and they formed a queue outside with their towels and their soap bags and they came in and had a bath.
“Another day the troops called my cousins and me over to the camp and they gave us huge tins of jam, butter, dried eggs and flour for my granny as a thank-you. She shared it amongst the neighbours.
“The next morning when we went outside to play, they had all disappeared. They had been staying at Ballyholme and going to the shore to practice manoeuvres before launching the D-day landings at Omaha and Utah.”
Marlene says the day victory was declared was celebrated in style in her Belfast street.
“There were parties all day and all night. People brought tables out onto the street with sandwiches, buns, beer and lemonade. Men and women were kissing and hugging. Someone wheeled a piano out into the street and there was music and dancing. It was a beautiful street party and everyone was happy.”
She says today’s coronavirus crisis has instilled the same community spirit in people.
“What we are living through now is a silent war,” she says. “Back then you had sirens and explosions and you knew what was going to happen. But at the same time it has brought our communities together like back in those days. Neighbours are looking after one another, asking if you need anything. On a Thursday night we are all out clapping and it has brought back that bit of spirit and it is lovely to see. I hope it stays like this when the pandemic is over.”