Irish Veteran remembers fallen comrades

This story is taken from an interview with Mr O’Sullivan at the Dublin WW2 Commemoration, and has been added to the site with their permission. The authors fully understand the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Richard Crothers, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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O’Sullivan is my name, and I came here [to the Dublin WW2 commemoration] because I saw some people getting killed in the war. And I remember them every yr. that’s the main reason. Plus, this being the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.
[I’m from] Crumlin in Dublin.
Good times in the war?

I had plenty of friends. The best friend I ever had was a man working in the dockyard in Devonport. His home was a second home to me. Unfortunately he’s dead now. He died in 1982-3, I’m not sure which. But his wife and all, his family, if I didn’t go when I was off-duty they’d want to know why.
He worked in the dockyard, and he was a terrific man for the drink. There was a friend of ours down from Ireland, from down in corm — I’m originally from cork. And the man who run the pub, he was from West Cork, and he was ex-Navy. He had been in the navy, chief gunner’s mate in the First World War. But anyway, he had a pub when he came out. And we used to go in there, and this friend of mine used to do barman for them. I’d have to go out to his home — whenever I was off, it didn’t matter when it was.

[the war ended] 8th May, in Europe. I felt v sad on that end day for all the people that got killed all over Europe. I thought to myself “what an awful waste of life”. And at the same time, I was alive myself.
A waste of life? But at the same time, looking back at it now, Europe is much better off because of that war. But on VE day — and the Japanese war was still going on — naturally we were expecting to be sent out there. But I didn’t get sent out there because it finished before I was sent out. If I was going to be sent out. But to me it was sad. But they were all around, in Trafalgar square and all that kind of thing. It was sad to think of all the people who were killed, unnecessarily. But at the time, when you think of the jews put into it. And what happened to the jews. You couldn’t let it go on, let Hitler go on. He had to be stopped.
Although we didn’t know that at the time. It’s looking back on it now, it had to be stopped. They’d have ruined the whole world. He would have come over here as well, who knows what would have happened. The people here would have been slaves to him.

It’s not mourning, because I’m glad to see the way Europe’s prospered since. Although you didn’t see it, you couldn’t see it properly, you didn’t realise on VE day that it was going to prosper. But looking back on it now. This is a celebration. And also thanksgiving for your own life. But at the same time there’s sadness in it for the people that died, unfortunately. It’s really praying for them would be my idea today.

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