The people of this area have a long and abiding memory of the snowy New Year’s morning in 1941 when the outside world invaded the peaceful farming community of Knockroe. This event is remembered in song and story as three family members lost their lives that morning when their home was destroyed by a German bomber.
The Shannon family lived in a two storey farm house at Knockroe. In the family home lived John Shannon, a widower, and his teenage children, son Raymond and daughter Kathleen. Also living with them in the house were John’s brothers, James, Patrick, and Michael and his sisters, Mary Ellen and Bridget. The women slept at one end of the house while the men slept at the other.
The German bomber dropped eight bombs on the mountain in the early morning of that first day in 1941. The third bomb hit the Shannon house in a direct hit. This was not an isolated incident although it is generally accepted that there was no intention to cause loss of life. It is most likely that the German plane was off course and ridding itself of its cargo before returning to Germany. Other bombing incidents in Ireland took place between August, 1940 and July, 1941, as German airplanes sought out targets in Belfast and Liverpool.
The Shannon family gravestone in Rathanna recalls these deaths and also the death of the youngest brother, Michael, some years later from his injuries.
Recommended reading: The Bombing of Dublin’s North Strand by German Luftwaffe: the Untold Story by Kevin C. Kearns
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