Vincent and Marion Strunks recall internment marriage as they prepare to celebrate Golden Wedding anniversary

The Creggan-couple tied the knot on the inauspicious date of August 9, 1971.

That they were wed at all is a minor miracle, as Brian Faulkner and the British Army introduced and implemented internment without trial in the north.

As Vincent and Marion were preparing to get married, the British Army were busy kicking down doors and dragging men from their beds in dawn raids across nationalist areas of the city.

On the morning of their wedding around 60 men from the city and district were lifted and taken to a British internment camp at Magilligan.

As the wedding bells rang in St. Mary’s in Creggan there was fierce rioting and demonstrations across Derry.

It was certainly a wedding day that stuck in the memory, as Vincent explains: “Most of the guests had to walk down the town to get the bus to Keaveny’s Hotel, Moville.

“The hairdresser’s husband was one of those seized and we had to get one of the guests to do Marion’s hair.”

Faulkner’s introduction of internment with the backing of Edward Health’s Conservative government led to a serious escalation of street violence in Derry in August 1971 and over the following months.

Vincent recalls the chaos of what should have been their honeymoon period.

“We got a flat in the Diamond beforehand. Returning from work on numerous occasions I found Marion standing at the corner of London Street because of a bomb scare. This was on top of the regular gunfire along Butcher Street.

“A few months later a bomb exploded in the flower shop on the ground floor while we were sitting upstairs listening to Glen Miller playing Moonlight Serenade on Omnibus. It was some start to married life.”

Happy Golden Anniversary Vincent and Marion!