I was trying to contribute to dinner time conversations at my workplace the other day. I raised the subject of the second world war or the 'emergency' the Irish called it. Ireland was neutral and my English mother's brother served on a British Navy minesweeper.
Amazingly he was in Bantry Bay for a while. Little did he know his little sister, my mum would in a few years be marrying a man, my dad living across the water on the peninsula facing him.
Apparently it was quite common for the British Navy to be patrolling Bantry Bay and U Boats surfaced in Dunmanus Bay and they would go into Durrus and Kilcrohane for the 'messages' like cigarettes, Tatyo crisps, red lemonade and peat briquettes and Guinness and newspapers like The Southern Star...?
There have been Luftwaffe air crashes around West Cork like Dunbeacon near Durrus and Dursey Island near Castletownbeare.
One of my work colleagues contributed an amusing anecdote: Apparently he had worked with a man who had an old wrist watch belonging to one of the crashed planes Luftwaffe air crew. There was an engraving on the back of the watch in German.
He thought it would be a great idea to get the engraving translated and he would hopefully trace the name and hopefully find the airmans relatives and present them with the watch. So he took it to a local Jeweller in his West Cork town. And he said he knew German and he could tell him what the engraving said:
"Stainless steel!"
Said the Jeweller.
Ha-ha! That's a great story about the watch. It reminds me of when I went into a shop in North Wales many years ago. I said to the shopkeeper that schoolchildren in England never learnt a word of Welsh and I thought that this was so wrong. "For example I don't even know how you say hello in Welsh! What is it?"
ReplyDelete"Oh that's easy," said the shopkeeper - "it's helloo!"
"Helloo". That's a cracker. I remember a neighbour once telling me she went into a shop in North Wales and said: " What kind of cakes have you?" The lady shop keeper curtly replied: "What ever is in the window!"
ReplyDeleteI hope Mr and Mrs Steel got their son's watch back.
ReplyDeleteYes JayCee. If he'd been an English soldier he would have been called Tommy😊.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great story Dave. I hope your workmate delivered it an appropriately dry way.
ReplyDeleteHe did Rachel. All around the houses kind of way. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting. When my Dad died I found a tin in his shed with his dog tags and other interesting things. A photo of him in his army uniform with 4 young girls. Alongside this was postcard written in German. When our eldest was at school he took it to the language teacher and he translated it. It was a love letter to my Dad from what looks like one of these girls. I have kept it along with a couple of tiny blue German postage stamps obviously small because of paper shortages. My Mum never knew of this and I kept it from her.
ReplyDeleteBriony
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What a great love story Briony. Thanks for letting us know about your dad and his German girl friend.
DeleteReminds me of some story I heard about a guy with a Chinese character as a tattoo. Turned out that it didn't mean 'good fortune'
ReplyDeleteOh dear! Imagine getting a tattoo with a different meaning. Thanks Debby.
ReplyDeleteJayCee - we love the way your mind works. Mr & Mrs Stahl had a son they knew fondly as Rosty.....
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Tigger.
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