'The Yanks threw a party for all the children in the district in the ballroom of the Great Northern Hotel. '

'The Yanks threw a party for all the children in the district in the ballroom of the Great Northern Hotel. '

Hugh Duncan remembers a party organised by the American Soldiers in the Great Northern Hotel. He reflects on how upsetting it was to see them setting off to Normandy, knowing so many died.

Hugh Duncan

Trinity College Dublin

1945

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Hugh Duncan

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

Rostreavor, Co. Down

1940s

The Yanks threw a party for all the children in the district in the ballroom of the Great Northern Hotel. A beautiful building covered with ivy when changed colour.Their barracks was just a short distance from May Cottage and we saw a lot of what they were doing from the house.It was a very sad day for us when we noticed great big troop carriers lied up from the front of our house right along the Shore Road. We didn't know at the time that they were embarking on the first leg of the journey to Normandy. Around 2000 billeted around Rostrevor went to ward and it was reported from one of the G. I. Brides from America that only a few hundred survived.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)