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Half life echoes11/22/2023 “Are we invaded yet?” became a conversation opener by people stopped at Garda/Army checkpoints, and a satirical song “thanked de Valera and Sean MacEntee for giving us black flour and a half-ounce of tea.” Drapers sold dark cloth at 1/- to 2/- a yard. Householders used blankets, brown paper, rugs, and newspapers to comply. Hurricane lamps with red globes were placed on kerbsides in suburbs as a guide to drivers.Īll window, skylight, glass door or exterior openings in buildings had to be covered. Families brought their children out “to see the darkness” in Cork and other cities. When it all started, the nightly black-out was a curiosity. More than 400 people lost their lives here, mainly in Axis and Allied plane crashes, German bombings, and incidents at sea. The Irish state did not escape some of the horrors. Thousands more emigrated to Britain out of economic necessity. Some mothers even converted horse collars into comfortable cradles for their infants.Ī timber tea chest acquired from a friendly shopkeeper was turned into a play pen with a worn rubber bicycle tyre tacked to the rim to protect small children from rough edges.Īt least 100,000 people from this island served with the Allied forces - over 3,600 from the south and nearly 4,000 from the north were killed. Patches were sewn on the worn knees of trousers, socks were darned, sewing machines hummed in kitchens. Hens were popular in households, while salty butter was churned in rural homes.Ĭlothing was passed down from child to child. The grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin were ploughed, and local authorities allocated townspeople free allotments to stave off food shortages. Families grew their own potatoes and other vegetables. PRECIOUS CARGO: Civil Defence personnel unloading gas masks at Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork city, on December 7, 1940įarmers were required to plant more acres with food-producing crops.
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