A LOCAL historian who is to receive a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her services to World War II History in County Fermanagh says it is a "huge honour and privilege" to be recognised in The Queen's Birthday Honours.

"I was not expecting anything like this at all, because all my life I have just been mopping up the local history and I have enjoyed every bit of it," Breege McCusker told The Impartial Reporter.

"I'm really so appreciative that our World War II heritage has been recognised, and obviously the part that we played in the Battle of the Atlantic, which is so important."

From a young age, Breege – who is from Irvinestown – has had an interest in the history of her home town and its people which stemmed from hearing many a story as she helped in her family's public house, which was based on the main street of the town.

"We were never allowed to take our comics into the bar; my mum always said: 'Listen to the people', and that's what happened. I was listening to these marvellous people and their stories of the [army] camp at Castle Archdale in the war years.

"As a young child, I was absolutely enthralled with this," said Breege.

However, it was whilst working as a teacher in St. Mary's College, Irvinestown, after setting a task for her students to research Irvinestown in the local library, that she discovered there was very little history written about the town and its surrounding area.

"I thought we were a very important town, but obviously not, so I thought to myself, 'We'll have to start recording and collecting stories', and I really went from there," said Breege, who has since written a book, entitled 'Castle Archdale and Fermanagh in WWII' (now out of print), which features great detail about the army camp at Castle Archdale and Fermanagh in general.

Grateful to receive the BEM, Breege wanted to acknowledge all of the people who have assisted her historical work, including "those who have been doing research over the years, looking at crash sites and going up mountains to find the remains of planes and bringing them back, and the veterans and their relatives who come back to Irvinestown to visit the two graveyards, and to Joe O'Loughlin from Belleek who has welcomed so many".

She added: "It's the people who have done lots of work in the past who also have to be remembered."