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[Kilsally]

Scanned in from the News Letter (so please allow for typos)
www.newsletter.co.uk
week ending Sat 11th Nov 2006


Stay upto date with the past with World War Web

THE war may be over, but the website lives on. If you're too young to remember the Belfast Blitz, ration coupons, gas masks and the banshee wail of air raid sirens, fear not: a brilliant new website launched yesterday in Belfast captures everything from the smell of cordite to the miracle that was Spam. The processed pork, that is, not the e-mails about improving your vitality under the covers, buying fake watches or looking after money for Nigerian princes down on their luck. The www.secondworldwarni.org site uses all the advantages of 21st century technology to bring to light personal histories from the war, in remarkable audio and video testimonies from war veterans, Blitz survivors, evacuees and Wrens.

In it, you can learn about Northern Ireland's unpreparedness for the war, the extensive damage it suffered during the Blitz, its industrial endeavours and the strategic importance it played in helping the Allies to victory in Europe. Catalinas based at Castle Archdale, for example, would leave Lough Erne at dawn, patrol the Atlantic as far as Newfoundland and return to Wig Bay at Stranraer in Scotland at 4.30am after a 21-hour patrol.

After a few hours kip, they would fly over to Lough Erne and fuel up for another patrol the following morning. At the other end of the Province, it was to Greencastle airfield that generals Eisenhower and Pattern flew into, in the months leading up to D-Day, to inspect troops of the US 5th Infantry Division stationed throughout Co Down, with their HQ at Donard Lodge in Newcastle. With hundreds of letters and photographs from archival sources being seen for the first time, the website provides not only a unique source of information, but a tribute to the people of Northern Ireland who were affected in so many ways by the war. People like Anne Doherty who can be heard recalling the day war broke out.

or Bobbie Crockett, whose fond memories of VE celebrations in County Londonderry are another highlight. Within the site, six sections cover topics such as the impact of the war on women in Northern Ireland, Irish neutrality, life at Station X, the top-secret Bletchley site where the Enigma code was cracked, and the Holocaust. Not to mention little-known facts like V-mail, the 1940s equivalent of e-mail, in which US soldiers wrote their letters on a standard form. This was then photographed onto microfilm which was flown to the USA. A reel of 16mm microfilm could contain 18,000 letters and in terms of bulk and weight took up only a fraction of what 18,000 real letters would take. Upon arrival in the USA the letters were printed from the film and then posted onward to the addressee.

In a suitable combination of new and old, the venue for the launch yesterday was the restored Christ Church building of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

Shan McAnena, chairwoman of the Northern Ireland Museums Council, said at the launch:
"This website provides access to rich collections that are the lifeblood of more than 20 museums here, both small and large, and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
"It's different from other Second World War sites because it provides localised content through a Northern Ireland-wide resource.
"We hope that the site will stimulate new conversations between generations, and so help to recall and pass on memories of this important stage in our collective history." The site has been produced by Londonderry's Nerve Centre, which already has an impressive record in producing this sort of thing. Not fuelled on a diet of Spam, mind you.
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[Kilsally]

Ulster war effort brought to life by new website
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ … ory=713539

By Matthew McCrear
08 November 2006

The role played by Northern Ireland in the Second World War has been brought to life in a new website.

Hundreds of letters, photographs and other documents describing the experiences of Ulster people throughout such historic events as the Belfast Blitz and rationing are featured on the site http://www.secondworldwarni.org

The site also includes six specially-designed learning packages for schools, covering topics such as the impact of the war on women in Northern Ireland, Irish neutrality and the Holocaust and Northern Ireland.

Shan McAnena, acting chair of the Northern Ireland Museums Council, which has developed the project, said: "This website provides access to rich collections that are the lifeblood of more than 20 museums here, both small and large, and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. It's different from other Second World War sites as it provides localised content through a Northern Ireland-wide resource, and so will enable people to find out about events that occurred within their immediate surroundings, and to plan their visit to their local museum or PRONI to see original source material."