My Life: I helped sailors under attack as a child during World War ll

Martin Gordon, Glasgow native living in Blackrock, Cork, speaks on growing up during the conflagration the Irish still refer to as 'The Emergency'

Martin Gordon, who came across a bombed warship with his uncle in Glasgow back in 1940

The everyday sight of a German bomber engulfed in flames and skimming my neighbours’ rooftops did little to faze me as a young boy growing up during the height of the Second World War.

If anything, war had put an end to my boredom. Even today, as a man of 94, I savour the memory of skipping school for two weeks to visit museums and marvel at diminutive warships and intricately detailed model tanks.