Date of Birth: 31st July 1940

Place of Birth: Southport, England

Date Interviewed: 8th September 2010

Summary: Gerald Woolley was brought up in Duncormick by his grandparents, who refused to let his mother bring him back to England. Times were tough and in school there were “plenty of smacks”. He remembers his granny buying a pair of rabbits for half a crown and these would go into the pot over the fire. Gerald worked for local farmers but then joined the merchant navy. He recalls a scary incident off the Cork coast when the ship he was on hauled up a WW2 mine and Gerald grabbed it to prevent it rolling about the deck. He contracted TB and spent a couple of years recovering from this. He joined the Lifesaving Apparatus Service which eventually became the Irish Coastguard. Gerald talks about some of the incidents he was involved in during his long years with the service.