Reuters AlertNet Lite - Operation Shamrock refugee returns to his Kerry home after 60 years

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FROM THE FIELD

Operation Shamrock refugee returns to his Kerry home after 60 years

27 Sep 2007 09:08:40 GMT
Source: Irish Red Cross - Ireland (Crois Dhearg na hÉireann)

Bernd Rosenberger was nine years old when, through the Irish Red Cross, his parents sent him to Ireland and the historic cathedral village of Ardfert.

One of a family of three children in the bombed city of Dusseldorf, Mr Rosenberger was most eligible for evacuation because of his age, said his older sister, Hannelie, who accompanied him on his trip to Ardfert.

The reunion took place at the O'Carroll family home in Main Street, where Mr Rosenberger arrived in May 1947. He spent three years in the home of Hannah and John O'Carroll.

There to greet him was retired priest Fr Tom Houlihan, Mr Rosenberger's best friend at school in Ardfert, along with the two surviving members of the seven children of the O'Carroll family, Noreen and Florry, who became for a time Mr Rosenberger's older "siblings".

Charlie Harnett, area director of the Irish Red Cross in Kerry, who was present yesterday, said it was a wonderful tribute from Mr Rosenberger to have taken the time to return to the family after all these years.

Most of the O'Carrolls were grown up at the time. Mr Rosenberger could not speak English but learned it "word by word in everyday life". Rural life was at a very different pace than it is now, Noreen O'Mahony, one of the youngest of the O'Carroll children, recalled at the family home, where she still lives.

More than 1,000 children had been received in Ireland from the war-torn continent following an appeal by the Irish Red Cross under "Operation Shamrock". Some were sent to Glencree in Co Wicklow and others including Mr Rosenberger were met at DÃºn Laoghaire port by the host family and taken to their home.

In Mr Rosenberger's case, Willie O'Carroll, a brigadier general in the Army, was sent to pick up the child. He was warned to "pick a strong young lad" who would be able for life in Ardfert and its tough sporting traditions, Mike O'Mahony, Noreen's son,recounted.

Young Rosenberger quickly became part of the village community. He learned Irish and English, played hurling and handball and was confirmed in the local church. "As our family ran the post office and shop, which was on the premises, you could say he had a wide variety of language teachers," Florry O'Carroll said.

Yesterday, despite all the development in Ardfert, an emotional Mr Rosenberger said it had not changed. He could "remember every stone, and every corner and every pathway" and no one had to show him around, even after a gap of 60 years.

Back in Germany, he became involved in restoration of historic buildings and churches, but he never forgot his time in Kerry. The family and the school where his most precious memories. "They treated me like a son," he said of the O'Carroll family. He remained in contact with them until 1953 when Hannah died. In May of this year Mr O'Mahony managed to contact Mr Rosenberger, now a grandfather.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Wed Oct 24 17:12:36 2007