Archive (186 life histories found)
'Many onlookers at the graveside were astonished at the strange uniforms and even more so as the orders were given 'As Gaelige''
Ask anybody and they will remember where they were on that tragic day, 22nd Nov. 1963. For on that day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and was particularly poignant for me. Earlier that summer JFK had visited Ireland…
'It was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and I, in a fit of patriotism, decided to join the FCA (which was the Army reserves) and defend the country to the last drop of my blood'
This is what we were called by the local wags who should have known better. It was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and I , in a fit of patriotism, decided to join the FCA (which was the Army reserves ) and defend the country to the last drop of…
'Rather than admit to the Brits we had made a mistake, these mini tanks were used the transport turf from the Bog of Allen to a fuel depot in the Phoenix Park'
We were once taken out to sea by the Navy in one of their ageing corvettes. The purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate to potential officers the anti submarine capability of the Irish Navy. The grand finale entailed dropping depth charges on…
Tags: guns, Irish Navy, tanks
'Had I been found out I would have been charged with willful damage to State property '
That summer we were due to spend a few weeks in the Waterford Gaeltacht under canvass to improve our knowledge of Irish. The tents and all other equipment were transported by trucks, but it was decided it would be good exercise for the Cadets to…
Tags: bycicle, Military college, uniforms
'While John F. Kennedy and the Russians were contemplating nuclear war , we were being trained to charge around the bogs with fearsome bayonets uttering blood curdling war cries'
It is often said that the best years of your life were schooldays,, but in my case the most enjoyable and interesting were the years I spent as a Cadet in the Military College, the Curragh , County Kildare. I joined straight out of school and on…
'I turned 13 in 1958, just two years away from the 1960s, when the whole world was turned upside down. '
I think the term 'teenager' was much a late 1950s invention, most probably thought up by an American marketing man looking for a new group to sell his wares to. The music industry latched on to it and songs such as 'Teenager in love' topped the…
'...but we took to the strange surroundings of a French boarding school with gusto'
There were about twenty of us - excited St. Louis girls meeting at the ferry on the first leg of our journey to spend a month in France. We even had to get new blue blazers with Kilkeel crest to match the others. We had not yet acquired the…
Tags: France, French, language, school trip
'...but even today, more than years later, I feel a little twinge when I think of my first experience of betrayal'
It was the day before the end of the school holidays in 1948. I was to return to Kilkeel the next day to begin my second year there. I was actually looking forward to getting back and meeting my friends after the long holiday. My mother's London…
Tags: Adolescence, friendship, Loneliness, Puberty
'Dancehalls were our main way of meeting boys'
Dancehalls were our main way of meeting boys. There was no drinking. We'd prepare for hours with clothes and makeup. We frequented Clerys, the Metropole, The Crystal, the National in Parnell Square. In the beginning one could be put out of the hall…
Tags: Boys, dancehalls, drink, maek-up
'Within a few years everybody seemed to have disappeared'
We got an odd newspaper from England but us children were not allowed to read it. I usually got my hands on it (News of the World) and read it thoroughly. All I could see were one or two pictures of so called glamour models. Then within a few years…