Ken, was a young boy of twelve when war was declared, and remembers those years in his home-town of Derry as a “boom time”, in more than one way! Whilst Churchill geared the nation toward massive war preparation, the dividend enjoyed by many local industries in Northern Ireland was almost full employment, which had been merely a dream before hostilities began.

Even as a young boy, Ken recognized the changes brought about by war: “Prior to that, there was very high unemployment in Derry, but during the War Years (it was) totally the other way round!” Londonderry was probably the most westerly city in Britain, and while it was geographically removed from cities on mainland Britain, such as Birmingham, Coventry and London, it still had an important role to play in the effort to quell Hitler’s Germany.

Derry’s predominant industry was "very much shirt-making. Every street you went round, a massive big factory making shirts, and of course, with government contracts, uniforms too! It was an absolute boom time!”

The war effort also saw the opening by Harland and Wolfe Northern Ireland’s famous ship-builders, of a repair depot to cater to the vast fleet of Corvette’s and destroyers that used Derry as a base from which to patrol the North Atlantic and Irish Sea. Ken’s home was a matter of yards from the dockland area, which served to harbour the fleet of ships that hunted the German submarines that preyed on the Allied ship’s bringing vital supplies from across the Atlantic.

Considering the size of the fleet, “far more than Belfast, Glasgow and London combined”, Derry’s strategic importance as a port, seems to have gone relatively unnoticed by the German Luftwaffe, and escaped the bombardment that plagued those cities:

“Why they didn’t bomb Derry is an absolute mystery to me! I mean, at least 100 Corvettes and destroyers there at any given time, and they could have wiped the whole lot out without any bother at all if they made a concerted effort!”....... “ Knowing how thorough the Germans were, why should Derry have escaped? I mean, the River Foyle would have been very, very easy to follow up from the Atlantic, an absolutely easy target for them. But it never happened!”

Ken has pondered this over the intervening years and suggests that maybe Hitler had made a considered decision, rather than a mistake:

“ Derry was very much a Nationalist City! Whether that had any influence…?”

As the then Irish Premier, De Valera, said of Ireland’s neutrality, that was "her own war ", and maybe Hitler too, was conscious of not wanting to alienate diplomatic contacts with Ireland by harming a Nationalist heartland in the north of Ireland.

Such thoughts, however, were far from the mind of a teenager at the time!

For Ken, “It was a real fun time really. We were young, 12 to 17, in our prime, and were going to dances and all, and the fact that there was the war on didn’t bother us at all!”

The advent of America to the war meant the arrival of thousands of GI’s:

“That was one of the bright times of the war years, when the Americans landed. They set up their own Forces Network, and of course as kids, I suppose I was about 14 or thereabouts when they came in, I was interested in pop music and all, and they had the absolute cream of it on the AFN!”

The city-folk made the most of the situation, catering to the influx of GI’s:

“A lot of character’s set-up jaunting cars, and they were flying up and down the main street! I mean, it was there simply because the American’s were there!”

And of course, bearing in mind the rationing in the North, there was the opportunity to exploit the proximity of the boarder to bolster the coupon book.

“Quite honestly, we were trying it ourselves! Sugar, butter, chocolate: those things were unheard of in Derry. We used to cycle down and bring everything across. The shops along the boarder made an absolute fortune! You had to be pretty sharp! Use the head! Slip down a side road, short-cuts, or what-not”

And the train service was another popular trade route.

“Now that one was a favourite among smugglers!” remembers Ken, with a chuckle. To exploit the positioning of the customs post at a crossing point, the passengers would hang the goods on the outside of the carriages, on the blind-side of the train.

“You could get away with loads and loads of stuff, and as soon as you’re through – down the window and get your stuff back in again. Until such time as they twigged on that there were trains coming from the Free State and they never got anything at all! They planted someone on the opposite side and discovered all the bags. That was it!”

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