I was born lucky in December 1941 in Dublin, an oasis of peace and
tranquility in a world gone mad.
The Nazis had reached the suburban bus stops to the west of Moscow.
The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor exactly three weeks earlier
and within a couple of months were to inflict a crushing defeat on various
more numerous “British” forces in Singapore. One of those latter, Leo
Burke had been born in Dublin 39 years earlier, and my mother, two
years older, learned of his fate in 1946. He had been evacuated on a
troop ship, bombed by the Japanese and last seen swimming towards
I’ve forgotten where.
I still feel lucky in November 2023. My memory of life in Ireland from
1941 to 1964 is not of the dystopia portrayed by fantasists such as
Fintan O’Toole and Fergal Keane, OBE, born in 1958 and 1961
respectively.
My closest neighbours on the Hill of Howth were Protestants.My
elder sister remembers The Orange Order parading in Howth led
by a farmer from whom we bought milk. He had seven sons, one
of whom was a stalwart GAA man who played for Ben Edars, and
was the sole member of its vigilance committee, charged with the
enforcement of the ban on “garrison games.” Some members
played both Gaelic and Rugby, including a Garda, a “cute hoor”
from Kerry “Mairtin de hOra” for one and “Martin Hoare” for
the other. Protestants and Catholics got on well together.
Our neighbours included many who had been on opposite
sides in the 1922 Civil War, and served together from 1940
to 1945 in the Defence Forces.
I blame my good luck on Pearse, Connolly and their comrades in
1916, and also on De Valera and Fianna Fail.
But I had no particular party bias in my youth.
Anyone who doubts my memory can find on YOU TUBE an
amateur Colour Movie “HOWTH REGATTA AND LAMBAY
RACES” shot in 1942 with soundtrack added a few years back.
RACES” shot in 1942 with soundtrack added a few years back.
and “ONCE UPON A TRAM” shot between 1957 and 1959.
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