Child – History of Sorts

The shoe of a child

shoe

There are so many horrific images of the Holocaust, Films and pictures of corpses on carts. Photographs of women and children being executed. There is a disturbing photograph of a Jewish lady with ripped clothes being chased by young children.

All of these images are very powerful but I have decided to limit those images in my blogs. Not because I don’t find them important because they are, but basically for 2 reasons.

After doing these blogs for 2+ years I found they had an impact on my well being,both physically and mentally.
It is so hard to fathom these pictures that people get desensitized by them , and they become more like raw data and the stories behind them are forgotten.

Other images , although not graphic in nature, can be more powerful and heartbreaking. Pictures of daily objects.

Pictures like the picture of a child’s shoe which was found near the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

It is not just a shoe but also a story. The story of a child whose name is forgotten.

The story of a human being whose life was cut short because of hate.

A shoe which was put on every day, sometimes with the laces untied because the child was so eager to go outside and play with friends or to kick a ball.

On the other hand that same shoe was put on and the child was deliberately delaying putting it on and tying the laces, because he or she did not want to go to school.

A child whose future was robbed, and whose potential was denied to flourish.

What is even more heart breaking it was only one shoe that was found, It became a symbol of a broken life, a life interrupted.

So you see it is not just a shoe but a chronicle of the short life of a child,

The rape and the murder of 7 year old Patricia Wylie- A WWII crime story.

Tyrone

The Republic of Ireland remained neutral throughout WWII. However Northern Ireland,which was and still is, part of the UK did not stay neutral.

On January 26 1942 the first US troops arrived in Belfast.

US TROOPS

It must have given the people of Northern Ireland mixed feelings, On one hand they must have had the realization that they were dragged into the war, on the other hand they must have felt a sense of relief and security, with the US troops there to protect them.

TROOPS USA

Unfortunately that sense of security would have disappeared soon, on the night of 7–8 April 1941 Belfast experienced the first part of the Belfast blitz. The attack was relatively small and it’s purpose was probably only to see how good Belfast’s defenses were.

About a week later the city was hit again this time killing about 900 and injuring approximately 1500.

But then again it was war and something like this was to be expected. However what wasn’t expected was the evil within the US troops that were send to Northern Ireland.

Most of the soldiers were good men, and most of them were heroes for they had left the relatively safety and comfort of their own land, but had decided that they would give that up in the fight for freedom and against tyranny.

But the army is a reflection of the wider society meaning there were good but also ban men and some were just pure evil, as was Private William Harrison.

He was stationed at Cluntoe Airfield in Ardboe, Co Tyrone, and, up until then, relations between the soldiers and local were pleasant and harmonious.

cluntoe

By 1943, over 3,500 American troops were stationed there and the local economy was booming because of it.

Serving with the 2nd Combat Crew Replacement Centre Group, United States Air Force, Private William Harrison had got to know the Wylie family from Killycolpy near Stewartstown, County Tyrone, and became friendly with them.

On 25th September 1944, on a visit to the Wylie’s home, Harrison who had been drinking wanted to repay money he had borrowed from Mr Wylie. but he was out fishing.Harrison then decided to accompany the 7 year old daughter, Patricia, to the local shop.

Unfortunately they never made it to the shop. Harrison took the little girl to a nearby field where he sexually assaulted and strangled her.

Patricia’s semi-naked body, partially covered with hay, was later found in a field half a mile from her home.

At an inquest into the murder a US Major vowed that this vile crime would not go unpunished. During the court martial in Cookstown that November, Private Harrison admitted choking the youngster, but said he didn’t know why.

He was sentenced to death and was hanged on April 7,1945 in Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset.

jail

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Source

Belfast Telegraph

I am one in a million

werner-gross

I am one in a million, my Father says.

I am unique in every way, my Mother says.

I am their bundle of joy my parents say.

I am a threat to the nation, the Nazis say.

I am costing the country a lot of money, the government says.

I should not have been born, Doctors from T 4 say.

I am Werner Gross, I can’t walk by myself and I can’t hear or talk properly.

I am not wanted by the state.

I am only 4

I am not one in a million, in fact I am one of 2 about million children killed.