Evacuation from Belfast

This story is taken from an interview with James Doherty, and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Anita Cochrane, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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[the night after the first Belfast Blitz]
Again, people, there was some form of evacuation. But some people knew they had an old aunt or a granny or a neighbour out the country, and actually I suppose the whole thing couldn’t have been handled officially. People did a lot of work, and the Civil defence did a lot of work. They were there they took over control, sent messages back to HQ. What they had done, they didn’t act from orders. Our orders went to them, after the work was done. But there was 100,000 people left Belfast the next day or that evening, just one idea in mind. They weren’t going to pass another day in Belfast, another night. They actually went away on everything, people were lining up at bus stations, for the wrong areas, and there was extra hands went on. People didn’t, even some of the workers about the station, didn’t know what buses the people should go to try to find. They just knew they had and old forgotten aunt or someone. They wanted a way out of Belfast. They definitely weren’t going to sit another night in Belfast.

Well, as I say, I’ll finish you up.
The funniest thing I saw, a story, true. It was one of the funniest things. Although for those who were involved in it, they didn’t think it was funny. I suppose it was a terrible situation they found in. The next night, as I say, people wanted to get out of Belfast. There was some said “ach, I’m gonna stay”, but round about 10 o’clock, as it got dark, people came out onto the road. They decided when the streets got dark, there was no lights or squealing cats or howling dogs, things like that, some of the streets were eerie to walk about, a lot of people decided that they were going to leave. Now, there was a group of people came over from the Shankill Rd to the corner of Carlisle Circus. Maybe about 30 of them that gathered. They had decided to stay, but as I say they decided … and the Antrim Rd was a roadway out. So they were hanging about, looking for some transport. So they came into our own area, and we went down to speak to them. And again, I had an idea. I’d go the barracks, maybe get some transport. So I went down, and the guard — one of the guards knew me, didn’t know me personally but he knew I’d been in the night before. So he says “hiya, mate. What do you want tonight, paddy?” so I says, “is there any transport?”
“I don’t know. It’s all busy, and we’ve got rid of a lot of the stuff out of here in case of another raid”. But at any rate he says “come on in and speak to the big chief”. Major Green, who was the Provost Marshall. In actual fact, if military law had been put on the city in another raid, this old Major boy would have been the Provost Marshall. He would have taken over the government and all. A nice old boy, but we went in and he him’d and he hawed and he said “come on in and we’ll see what we can do”. So he puts on his red hat and his big red sash — you know, ceremonial, he would stop the world style, and he came out. But I says to him “There’s too many people here. I think it’s a bit dangerous to stop a car, if you get a car. The crowd would rush it. I don’t know who they are. It’s just a matter they’re here, and I thought I’d help them”.
“I see what you mean, I see what you mean. But we’ll see anyway.”
So he came up. And we were standing there about half an hour or more, maybe less. And we hear a heavy army truck, one of the old trucks. Something like a covered wagon, a big canvas cover over it, came up, chugging up round the Circus.
“ah yes, this is us now, this is us now.”
So he stepped out and called, and made this fellow down, and yer man jumps down, attention and saluting and all. “yes sir, no sir, 3 bags full sir”. Definitely more when he saw who yer man was. I think he was more afraid of him than he was of the Blitz. But at any rate, he said “Where are you going to?”
This boy was going to Ballymena, and he says to me “would that do you all all right?”
There’s a station out at Glengormley there, the Baron Hall. The hall still stands there. Out at Glengormley, just outside the Police Barracks. And they all piled, this crowd piled into the back of the wagon. John went in with the driver to show him where he wanted to go to. I stayed in the back with this crowd. Now, they were nearly all mill people and one thing and another. And Mill people as a whole had a habit of making up parodies of things and singing them. But they sang a song.

“Hitler thought he had us, with his Yah-yah-yah.
Hitler thought he had us, with his Yah-yah-yah.
Hitler thought he had us, but you see he never got us.”

They kept playing that, or singing it. No other songs, maybe an odd song, but that always came up. They just yelled and sang it. They were happy. And you can imagine. And that ride out to Glengormley, you didn’t have a nice little tarmacadam roads and stuff like that. From halfway out the Antrim road it was just like a dirt track. Glengormley was a wee village out the back. And I often describe that, I think of it as the wheels were square, not round. You were knocking about, and those women … so we brought them into the rest centre, had a cup of tea with them, left them and then another long walk. John and I walked back again from Glengormley in the middle of the night. We didn’t see a soul. Definitely no cars going into Belfast and none coming out. So we walked the 5 miles back, and I think when we got in I sat down exhausted and I remember saying to some of those boys “pull those boots off me”. It’s like a cowboy picture. So they pulled the boots off me, and I think I fell asleep just lying on the floor, with my gasmask under me for a pillow. And that was one of the last experiences of ... Actually, the raid, there was other work to be done, clearing-up work and all. But that, I would say, would be a finishing story to what my experiences was. Looks like fairy tales and stuff, but I was there and they happened. People …
Still a few, the last experience, I was giving a lecture at a school. Some amazing questions that youngsters can ask you. This wee lad puts his hand up and says “My granny knew you”.

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