April 16. German bombing of Londonderry. Roll of Honour

This night in 1941 aerial mines were dropped by the Lufwaffe and aimed at the Royal Naval Maintenance Yard at Pennyburn. They landed in Londonderry. One exploded above the British Legion houses in Messines Park, a small development named after the First World war Battlefield at the Somme and home to a number of Ex-Servicemen and their families. London also suffered through the heaviest blitz of the war. Parliament buildings and St. Paul’s Cathedral suffered damage, and more than 2,250 fires were touched off by incendiary bombs. In 1918 Fred Law and George McClure from Moira, Charles Crooks from Muckamore and James McGrath from Belfast fell serving in the Royal Irish Rifles in Belgium and France. In 1941 William McGennity, a Royal Ulster Rifleman, got a pass home from Palace Barracks, Holywood. He, his wife, and three children, died when their home in Holmdene Gardens, Belfast, was hit with a German bomb. John McClean of the Derry Gunners died in Egypt. Photo – Battle terrain in Tunisia. For today’s full report click on –