To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, we are delighted to be joined by defence heritage expert, Dr James O’Neill to discuss the valuable contribution of the ARP to the war effort.
The rise of airpower introduced a new threat during the Second World War as aerial attacks became the most significant danger to the civilian population. As a result, the government established Air Raid Precautions, or ARP for short, a civilian organisation tasked with responding to the threat at home. The ARP were assigned a multitude of responsibilities including the distribution of gas masks, patrolling and maintaining the blackout and co-ordinating the emergency response to air raids.
This talk will examine their role, how the public received them, and where traces of their vital contributions can still be found.
Dr James O’Neill has worked to promote and preserve the archaeology and heritage of Northern Ireland for over thirty years and specialises in all aspects of conflict archaeology, including defence heritage and battlefield survey. He is currently the Collection Officer at Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum.
