Any historical stories in your family?

My grandad was in the old IRA. He sent and received lots of letters from Eamon De Valera. When the Black and Tans were around they'd a curfew on our town and anyone seen out after midnight would be shot on sight. My great grandmother died and my grandad and his family had to put sacks on the horses hooves and take her body to the graveyard and bury her in darkness. If they'd been caught the Black and Tans would've shot them. When my grandad died the IRA wanted to come to his funeral and fire shots over his grave but my nana wouldn't let them.

On the other side of my family two of my great grandmothers sisters were on the titanic and were rescued in lifeboats. My great grandmother was about 7 months pregnant and when she heard about the titanic sinking she went into premature labour and gave birth to a little boy. They didn't find out for a long time after that her two sisters had been saved. They settled in America and both had families there.

On both sides of my family there were soldiers that fought in both world wars and came home with medals. The medals were always in the houses displayed in big frames with timber surrounds.

All these stories are wonderful to read!
I don't have many stories from my own family to contribute but I can say this:
My granny on my mother's side of the family grew up on the North Strand and distinctly remembers the time during WW2 when the Germans dropped a few bombs in the canal. She was only in her early teens but told me on a few ocassions how she and her siblings were in bed at the time and next of all the wall came down on top of them. Can't even begin to imagine how terrifying that must've been for her. She's 86 this year and usually quite open to talking about the war but I can see in her eyes that she doesn't like recalling that particular incident so I don't often bring it up.

Another story that I must try and get more information on: My great-grandfather on my mother's side was taken captive as a POW in a German camp twice during the first World War. He managed to escape both times and from what my mother tells me, he wasn't right in the head after that. As far as I know, we have a metal swastika and a German Iron Cross up in the attic that he stole from a German solider during one of his escapes.

Also, my grandfather, again on my mother's side, trained as a silver service waiter in the Ritz in Paris during World War Two.
Sadly, due to there being a fire in the hotel about 30 years ago, no official records of his time there exist. My mother's dearest wish is to go to Paris and visit that hotel, to see where her father learned his trade. Ahh, some day.
Another story concerning my grandfather harks back to when a bomb went off in Liberty Hall. I can't recall the exact circumstances of the bombing (I'll ask my mother about it and get back to you) but what I was told was that at the time, my grandfather worked as a bus driver for CIE and was stopped at the quays for his lunch break when he heard an almighty explosion.

Driving up towards the plume of smoke in the air, he saw what happened and set to rescuing people caught up in the blast by putting them on his bus and driving them straight to hospital to get help. He even went out of his way to drop one badly shaken young lady who was a frequent customer of his straight to her parent's door as he was so concerned.
A truly selfless, lovely man. It's my biggest regret in life that I never got to have long chats about him concerning all the interesting things he did in life. He died when I was five years old. Stupid cancer.

My Grandfather fought in WW1, he was at the Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele etc, all horrifically brutal battles. He was shot through the shoulder in late 1917 and honourably discharged towards the end of the war when he was nearly ready to rejoin the fighting but luckily for me the war ended, otherwise I may not be typing this post. Incidentally my father only very recently found the bullet my grandfather was shot with, as he did bring it home with him.

I never met my grandfather (he died before I was born), but apparently he spoke very little about the war. By all accounts he was probably one of the many who joined up without really knowing what they were getting themselves into.

Apparently when anybody asked him what the war was like he would simply respond "it was the war that should never have been", and left it at that.

My relatives were highway men and if you go back a little further one of my ancestors was a pirate.

A relative of mine was alleged to have been involved in an incident that's mentioned in Irish history books. He's name checked in Dail records.

But that's all I'm going to say.