Margaret O'Neill

Senior ARP Warden Margaret O'Neill served throughout the devastating Belfast Blitz of April-May 1941. Belfast was poorly prepared for air raids — with fewer shelters and anti-aircraft guns than comparable cities — and the German attacks killed over 1,100 people. On the night of 15 April (the "Easter Tuesday Raid"), O'Neill worked for 72 hours straight, directing rescue operations, organising temporary shelters, and comforting the bereaved. She personally pulled three children alive from the rubble of a collapsed terrace house on York Street. For the remainder of the war, she organised Belfast's civil defence training programme and was instrumental in improving the city's shelter provision.