Roamer: Hollywood megastar stayed in Bangor bed and breakfast

There are two military themes here today, the second supplements some recent memories of Ulster’s nuclear sentries.

First, local war-historian Andy Glenfield, who has often shared stories here from his Facebook page ‘The Second World War in Northern Ireland’.

Andy has been researching film star Clark Gable’s short wartime sojourn in Bangor, County Down.

When the megastar of movies like ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ enlisted in the U.S Army Air Forces (A.A.F) base in Los Angeles in August 1942, his presence was kept top secret ‘til he left town!

Clark Gable, circa 1940

(When James Stewart joined up the year before, over- enthusiastic fans pulled buttons from his uniform and someone snipped off a lock of his hair!)

After becoming a Second Lieutenant in October 1942 Gable was sent on a ‘special assignment’ by the Commanding General of the A.A.F, to make a recruitment film with the Eighth Air Force in action over Europe.

With cinematography added to his gunnery training and promoted to First Lieutenant, Gable led a six-man film crew within 351st Bomb Group.

The accomplished screenwriter John Lee Mahin was one of the six.

Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind, 1939

Based at R.A.F. Polebrook in Northamptonshire they flew combat missions from May to September 1943 in Flying Fortresses and Gable was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.

He returned to the U.S to edit and narrate the film, and in June 1944 was promoted to Major after visiting Bangor.

He’d stayed there in May with Lee Mahin for about two weeks, where they met former nurse Jean McDowell at the American Red Cross Club on Princetown Road.

Jean ran a guest house at 6 Victoria Road, overlooking Bangor bay, and suggested they book in.

Brian Willis's father and dog 'Jan' on duty with the ROC in 1940

Gable boarded there for “an unspecified number of days” says Andy Glenfield “ and it is not known if Mrs McDowell recognised the Hollywood star.”

After his discharge Gable wrote a letter thanking Jean for her kindness, enclosing a signed photo of himself.

“The letter and photograph were framed by Mrs McDowell and hung on her living room wall until her death in 1972,” says Andy, who’d love to locate the evocative documents.

He doesn’t know where the letter and photo might be, but if anyone has any information please email him at [email protected]

Prior to his discharge Gable was placed on “inactive duty” says Andy “because he was a valuable asset to the movie industry and Hitler had offered a considerable reward for his capture.”

Gable’s discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan!

Today’s second theme is in response to last month’s page about the local Royal Observer Corps, known after WWII as ROC or ‘the Eyes and Ears of the RAF’.

Journalist, author, historian and former editor of The Coleraine Chronicle, Hugh McGrattan, a former ROC member himself, reminisced about the folk in the bunkers, protecting Ulster from hostile incursions by Soviet warplanes.

A surprising number of readers’ messages concurred with Hugh’s warm memories of the Corps and an email and several photos arrived from Bushmills artist, author, broadcaster and regular Roamer-contributor, Brian Willis.

The rest of today’s page is Brian’s:

My father was a driver in the RASC (Royal Army Service Corps) during WWII, driving tank transporters.

However, he left the army about 1943 on compassionate grounds to look after my mother who couldn’t walk as she was plagued with leg problems and was being looked after by me, an eight-year-old.

A civilian once more, my father joined the ROC in Colehill, Dorset, six miles from the South Coast of England. He loved it! Especially as one of his ROC colleagues was the local grammar school geography teacher who taught my father the stars and the planets, whilst my father taught him aircraft recognition and how to use the plotting gear.

My father became a lifelong astronomy enthusiast because of those night-time hours spent together.

My primary memory is sitting in our Anderson air-raid shelter at the bottom of the garden and, by flickering candle light, testing my dad with his aircraft recognition cards.

They were the same shape as playing cards, but on the front of each was an aircraft silhouette (often from several angles) and on the back was the name of the aircraft and various other details.

He also attended gatherings of ROC members in the local cinema where they were shown films of planes which they had to recognise, name and classify.

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