Grounded in Eire: The Story of Two RAF Fliers Interned in Ireland During World War IIOff-course after a failed mission over Frankfurt in 1941, Bobby Keefer, a former McGill football star, and his best friend Jack Calder found themselves forced to bail out of their twin-engine Wellington over Southern Ireland. Much to their surprise, rather than being returned to their squadron in England, they were interned for having violated Ireland's neutral airspace. In Grounded in Eire Ralph Keefer retells his father's remarkable experiences in Ireland during the war. After an unusual interrogation at the hands of the Local Defence Force in County Clare, Keefer and Calder were transferred to a makeshift prison camp in County Kildare - right next to a similar camp for German prisoners. There they found themselves subject to a surreal honour system that allowed them daily parole away from their internment camp - to golf or cycle across the broad plains of the Curragh free of any supervision. This system forbade escape attempts when they were on parole but bound them, as RAF officers, to attempt to escape upon their return to camp. A colourful and often amusing record of events, Grounded in Eire offers insight into this little-known aspect of the war and provides a testament to courage, friendship, and perseverance in the face of unusual obstacles. |
Contents
The Trip Over | 3 |
Slainte and Welcome to County Clare | 20 |
The Officers Bar | 42 |
Life on the Curragh | 58 |
Celebrating Pearl Harbor | 87 |
That LetDown Feeling | 120 |
Waiting for Tipperary | 155 |
A Handy Corkscrew | 188 |
The New Plan | 204 |
Bus A Please 233 | 233 |
Epilogue | 252 |
Other editions - View all
Grounded in Eire: The Story of Two RAF Fliers Interned in Ireland during ... Ralph Keefer Limited preview - 2001 |
Grounded in Eire: The Story of Two RAF Fliers Interned in Ireland during ... Ralph Keefer No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
aircraft American arrived asked bar officer barbed wire Belfast bloody Bobby bomber bombing Brady British Internees Bud Wolfe Canada Canadian Press Captain Fitzpatrick Club Colonel McNally Command compound county Clare Courtesy Bruce Girdlestone Courtesy Irish Military Covie Covington crash Curragh Curragh Camp Diaper Dublin Eire England English escape finally Fine Gael Flight Lieutenant Flying Officer G.2 Branch German golf Grant Fleming guards gunner head honour Internment Camp Ireland Irish Army Irish Military Archives Irish neutrality Jack Calder Jack's Karniewski Kearney Keefer Kelly Kildare knew ladder lads land later looked main gate McGill Midgely Montreal NCOS neutrality night Osberstown parole Pilot Officer Pilot Officer Keefer police hut release Remy replied reporter returned Royal Air Force Sergeant Sergt Shaw Sir John Maffey Susan tell thing thought Keefer told tunnel Valera waiting Ward Webster week Welply Wolfe's