By Diarmuid Sherry
A Delvin man who flew RAF missions on D-Day was fondly remembered by his son during the week of the 80th anniversary of the landings on the Normandy beaches last week. Conor Harkin, from Howth, Co. Dublin, spoke about his father, Flight Lieu Donal Harkin, who flew two missions on 6 June, 1944, including bombing heavy German artillery nearby Utah Beach. His father would later end the war in a German prisoner of war camp.
Proud son, Conor said: “My father joined up when he was 19. He was flying about a year when D-Day happened. He got shot down a month after D-Day. At D-Day, he was 22. The war ended when he was 23.”
