Belfast Fire, 1974
Ernie Taylor, 3 LI
It was the middle of the afternoon, and we were in a side street next to the mission; 3 section had been called out as there was a huge fire. One of the guys, Cabbage grabbed a fire extinguisher (I think it was him) and we all we all ran down the street and went to the front door and could see that, outside the house, there was loads of smoke. We couldn’t get in, and so we broke a window and could see that there were kids inside.
We had the extinguisher, but the frigging thing was totally U.S., but we used it up anyway. We couldn’t do anything at the front so we went to the back; I think it was Jim[Jim Parker, Corporal]who sent usround. I can’t remember the order anymore, but there was Benny, Corporal Jim, Cabbage and me, and the only thing that has stuck with me, is what we found.
The Fire brigade was there and water was everywhere, but that’s not what upset me; the stupid father had nailed the back door shut ! The kids couldn’t get out but the stupid xxxx was happy because he was on holiday in the ‘Kesh[Long Kesh Internment Camp]
We had to carry his poor babies out; we carried a 2 year old boy and his four old sister from the back kitchen where they had been hiding under the kitchen sink next to the fuckin door and the taps were on .
The doctor has been at me to rest because I’m getting flashbacks from something that I thought I had dealt with over thirty years ago; I still can’t get rid of the smell, even to this day. I think that they’ve got a posh name for what trouble me these days; anyway, I was taken back to Minden, Germany where I saw the nut Doctor. I thought that I was fine, even though I kept disappearing and throwing wobblies; anyway, they kept me in the there for a while, and then shipped me to the depot and immediately told me to hand in my kit; all of my kit! They didn’t leave me a pair of skiddies or a suitcase, and then I was out; discharged; temperamentally unsuited; whatever that means !
They gave me a train ticket home and that was it; years later, I had to go down to the Recruitment office to demand my GSM !
And I still can’t get those kids off my mind, as if it wasn’t bad enough that we couldn’t get in to save them.
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