AROUND Easter time every year, the thoughts of many folk in Northern Ireland turn to the German Luftwaffe’s devastating Belfast blitz between April 7 and May 6, 1941. This year marks the 80th anniversary of this particular blitz, and there are still some Belfast people who remember the attacks first-hand, and country people who recall the city’s shocked evacuees arriving at rural railway stations. Belfast still has ‘gaps’ on its streets, and marks on buildings, that are poignant reminders of Hitler’s bombardment, 80 years ago. The first raid by eight German bombers that April 7/8 followed a single reconnaissance flight in November, 1940.
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Boris Mayfield on a Zoom call to his friends on his birthday.
‘But now we have postponed that until the summer. I am going to be 100 all over again.’
Born in New Southgate, London, Boris was one of five boys. His parents later adopted a girl, the mother of Tracy Brown, who is his beloved niece and closest remaining relative who he sees regularly.
Boris spent much of his childhood in Hillingdon until two of his brothers contracted tuberculosis. He says: ‘It was because we used to drink bottled milk straight from cows without it being cleaned. We moved to Shoreham by the sea for the cleaner air.’
George James, who was 96, died last weekend, and his family has shared his incredible wartime story. George was one of the last surviving veterans of the Normandy Landings, fighting on Gold Beach aged just 19. Following this, he was then part of the defence against the German counter-attack around Falaise, helping with the breakout there. He then went on to fight across Europe, eventually being wounded in the Netherlands near the German Border. Having recovered from his injuries, he was then sent to Palestine, where he was part of the peacekeeping force when the famous explosion occurred in the Star of David Hotel.
Is your relative on this list of Swansea civilians killed during the Swansea Three Nights blitz?
Almost 400 civilians in Swansea were killed during bombing raids in the Second World War and their names have now been digitised to make it easier for people to see and remember them
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