Northern Ireland Remembers US WWII Generation
Here’s a great article in today’s Belfast Telegraph that salutes young American men who died in World War II in Ireland including some from Kansas.
Although the Republic wasn’t the Republic then, it was independent from Britain and exercising its version of neutrality. So it’s specifically Northern Ireland that the article is focused on, where, among many others, a B-17 and a B-26 crashed - into Cave Hill by Belfast and the Mourne Mountains respectively.
One of the B-17 victims is the subject of a film with Shirley Maclaine and Christopher Plummer called Closing The Ring by Richard Attenborough - whiich was shot in Belfast last year and is due for release later this year. It’s the story of how the victim’s wedding ring was found decades after the crash and the effort to reunite that ring with his widow
There’s all kinds of stuff in here. From the first American GI to officially set foot in Europe when he stepped onto the jetty of Belfast port in January 1942, to Ike, to the 1,800 GI Brides, and to the troops playing American football at Ravenhill rugby ground that drew a local headline ‘8,000 Irish fans puzzled by US football game!’
It would have been virtually impossible for 300,000 US soldiers, sailors, and airmen not to make a profound impact on everyday life in Northern Ireland. The US tried to make sure the boys were well-behaved and issued them all a pamphlet with tips on how to get along and respect local traditions. Sagely, among its first instructions were “not to argue religion” and “not to argue politics” with local people.
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