Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
The German Life-jacket
Here is a story for you. I recorded this from the late John Bolger back in March 2019. John told the story of two young German Luftwaffe airmen who came ashore between Kilmuckridge and Blackwater in the early part of the Second World War. Their bomber crashed and they made it ashore in a small dinghy, and as John recalled, they were first brought into a local woman’s house and later into the home of the local curate, Father Ned Wheeler.
I recorded this story three or four times over the years from different local people, and one woman (Beth Young) actually remembered seeing the two young German airmen the day they were taken to the Curragh, Father Wheeler had played football for Wexford and was part of the famous team that won the row of All Irelands between 1915 to 1918. Apparently, though, he got a bit of a scalding afterwards from the local PP for putting up the two Germans for the night.
What’s particularly interesting is what John remembered about the lifejacket one of the airmen had. That life-jacket was given to the woman who found them and then John and local lads inherited it and used it when fishing in the 1970s, before eventually being handed into a museum that once existed in Wexford town. Sadly, as John pointed out, it never went on display, and he never found out what happened to it after that. The museum is now gone, and I have no idea where the collection ended up. Whether the lifejacket went into storage, was transferred to another museum, or passed into private hands remains a mystery.
I also know that Father Wheeler kept in contact with one of the airmen’s families, and that they corresponded by letter after the war. John Furlong told me that the parents of one of the airmen even sent the priest a watch as a thank-you for looking after their son — a completely natural and human gesture.
From what I can gather, they were later interned at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare, as was standard practice and I’m sure records of them exist there.
I just posted this story on my personal page and woman called Maura Murphy Gibson has told me that the men were called Walter Holborn and Josef Emmerich. I’d also love to know if anyone has information on the whereabouts of the lifejacket today.
I’m glad I recorded John telling this story, because he passed away only a couple of months later.
Text: Michael Fortune
The German Life-jacket
Here is a story for you. I recorded this from the late John Bolger back in March 2019. John told the story of two young German Luftwaffe airmen who came ashore between Kilmuckridge and Blackwater in the early part of the Second World War. Their bomber crashed and they made it ashore in a small dinghy, and as John recalled, they were first brought into a local woman’s house and later into the home of the local curate, Father Ned Wheeler.
I recorded this story three or four times over the years from different local people, and one woman (Beth Young) actually remembered seeing the two young German airmen the day they were taken to the Curragh, Father Wheeler had played football for Wexford and was part of the famous team that won the row of All Irelands between 1915 to 1918. Apparently, though, he got a bit of a scalding afterwards from the local PP for putting up the two Germans for the night.
What’s particularly interesting is what John remembered about the lifejacket one of the airmen had. That life-jacket was given to the woman who found them and then John and local lads inherited it and used it when fishing in the 1970s, before eventually being handed into a museum that once existed in Wexford town. Sadly, as John pointed out, it never went on display, and he never found out what happened to it after that. The museum is now gone, and I have no idea where the collection ended up. Whether the lifejacket went into storage, was transferred to another museum, or passed into private hands remains a mystery.
I also know that Father Wheeler kept in contact with one of the airmen’s families, and that they corresponded by letter after the war. John Furlong told me that the parents of one of the airmen even sent the priest a watch as a thank-you for looking after their son — a completely natural and human gesture.
From what I can gather, they were later interned at the Curragh Camp in County Kildare, as was standard practice and I’m sure records of them exist there.
I just posted this story on my personal page and woman called Maura Murphy Gibson has told me that the men were called Walter Holborn and Josef Emmerich. I’d also love to know if anyone has information on the whereabouts of the lifejacket today.
I’m glad I recorded John telling this story, because he passed away only a couple of months later.
Text: Michael Fortune
