Maureen Flavin Sweeney celebrated her 100th birthday in Belmullet last Saturday. It was a great day for the Sweeneys and there was five generations of the family present.
Now I know a 100th Birthday is always celebrated but Maureen’s is extra special in several ways, because of what she was unwittingly involved in 79 years ago.
Backstory: Maureen Flavin was born in Knockanure Co. Kerry in June 3rd 1923. After finishing school she applied for a job (in 1942) as a Post Office Asst. in Blacksod Post Office, which is as far West as you can travel in Co. Mayo. It took Maureen three full days to reach this small hamlet and sit for an interview with Postmistress Margaret Sweeney. Luckily Maureen got the job and settled into work in the post office.
During WW2 Maureen and the Sweeney Family, Mother, Margaret her son Ted and daughter Frances had duties to perform along with their roles in the post office. Blacksod PO was also a weather reporting station for the Met Office in Dublin. Their job was to take the readings, on the hour, every hour 24/7/365. They didn’t know it but Eamon DeValera decided that although Ireland would remain neutral, the Irish Met Office would assist the allies, and not the Nazis, with weather reports, for the duration of the War.
At midnight on 3rd June 1944, Maureen turned 21 years of age. She also made a weather report that said the Barometer in Blacksod was dropping rapidly, and the wind was building from a North Westerly direction. This signified that a major storm was coming. She filled in the reporting sheet which, later, was rung through to the Met Office in Dublin.
Later that morning Maureen took a call at the post office. When she answered a woman with a British accent spoke to her and said “please check, please repeat your weather readings”. Maureen asked Ted Sweeney to check her readings and he confirmed that, yes, there was a storm coming. The woman on the phone acknowledged the information and then finished the call.
The Sweeney’s thought no more of this until, 1956, when the weather reporting station was moved from Blacksod to Belmullet. Maureen and Ted, who had since married, were told that Maureen’s weather report on June 3rd 1944 had been the cause of D-Day in Normandy being postponed. General Eisenhower (Commander of the Allied Forces) had decided that this forecast of a storm in the Atlantic would put the planned amphibious landing at risk.
Maureen and the Sweeney family had also subsequently reported that the storm would clear and this led to General Eisenhower giving the go ahead for Operation Overlord (D-Day in Europe) 24 hours later on the 6th of June.
So Maureen and the Sweeney’s were responsible for saving countless thousands of Allied Soldiers and Sailors who, only for her report, would have been hit by a huge storm as they attempted the invasion. D-Day would have been a disaster and Eisenhower would have been responsible for potentially losing the war in Europe and what would the outcome have been for us, and the World generally, is unknown.
What we do know is that Maureen’s report and the delay of D-Day led to a successful landing on June 6th 1944. The defeat of the Nazis a year later in 1945, followed by the formation of NATO and General Eisenhower eventually became the 34th President of the #USA because of Victory in Europe.
This young lady from Knockanure Co. Kerry gave the World a present on HER 21st. She really did change the course of history and the outcome of WW2. Maureen Flavin Sweeney is a National Treasure and should have her name called out from the beaches of Normandy and the corridors of power all over Europe.
Happy 100th Birthday Maureen! 🇮🇪
Postscript: On June 19th 2021 (during lockdown) Maureen was presented with a medal from the US Congress and Congressman Jack Bergman thanking her and her family for their service and work that saved countless lives. She also received a letter of thanks from the D Day Museum in New Orleans Louisiana, along with letters from descendants of marines who survived the Normandy landings along with a letter of thanks from the Higgins family whose father had supplied the landing craft used in the landings.
Last week, before her 100th birthday, Maureen received a letter from the Royal British Legion recognising her work and thanking her for saving and altering the lives of countless allied servicemen and women due to these two weather reports.
Photo©️Eoin O’Hagan & Cealtra Comms Ltd.
Poem “The Girl Who Changed The World”©️ Ruth O’Hagan