The family of the late World War II veteran and Enniskillen community man Thomas McBrien, who died at the age of 102, has paid tribute to a “magnificent” father who was “extremely kind”.

Thomas, late of Derrin Road, Enniskillen, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 18.

Paying tribute to her late father on behalf of the family, Kate, Thomas’ eldest daughter, described him as “extremely kind”.

“He never would make up his mind on something or somebody until, as far as he was concerned, he had all the facts. Everybody got a hearing,” she said, noting that her father was also “quite direct and straightforward”.

“And he had, I would say, a slightly wicked sense of humour,” she added with a laugh.

A ‘true Enniskillener’, born between the bridges of Enniskillen in Water Street in 1920, Thomas and his family later moved to Regal Entry when he was six.

In his own words, Thomas recalled his first memory of life growing up in the town. He said: “My first memory was of taking my younger sister, Madeline, to see our new house, and being told to hold her by the hand and watch the road.”

At 14 years old, Tommy started an apprenticeship as an electrician under the guidance of Harry Davenport, and helped to bring electricity into houses in the Enniskillen area.

“We even put the lighting into Blake’s of the Hollow,” he said.

Ahead of World War II, Thomas began his RAF Electrician training at 19. He joined the war efforts as an Aircraftsman First Class, and became a member of the RAF technical grounds crew in April, 1939.

He trained in Yorkshire and moved across various bases in England, and was then posted to the Middle East. During this period, he worked on Squadron 61.

War effort

While he was overseas, the war effort took him to many places, including Singapore, the west coast of Africa, Australia, Burma, and other parts of the area that are now divided up as India and Pakistan because of partition.

Thomas spent this period of World War II in Squadron 205, where he mainly worked on Catalina aircrafts. When D-Day occurred, he was in India.

He later was presented with the Burma Star medal for his service in the Burma Campaign.

After the war, Thomas returned to England via the Mediterranean, and worked briefly in London before returning home to Enniskillen.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter last year, Thomas laughed as he recalled his story of gaining employment: “In the morning, a friend of my sister’s told Percy Whaley that ‘Tommy McBrien was back home after six years’, and by two o’clock, Percy had offered me a job.”

As an electrician, Thomas wired many houses across Enniskillen, including the housing estate in Derrychara.

In 1954, Thomas married Bridie Gormley and together they moved to Cornagrade in 1960, where they went on to have four children – Kathleen (Kate), Christina, Kevin and Michael.

“As a father he was just magnificent,” said Kate, adding: “For example, when we were growing up, my mum and dad, they couldn’t have afforded to take four of us on foreign holidays so dad decided what he could do was to take us all over Ireland, and he did.

“We holidayed everywhere, from Donegal to Cork and Kerry, and I would say probably all points in between.”

She recalled how her father had great time for her and her siblings. “If somebody said they would fancy flying a kite, then he would help them to build that kite, and fly that kite.

“We would go to Bundoran or Mullaghmore and do that, and because we lived so close to the river, when we were very young he ensured that we could all swim,” she said.

Thomas was a founding member of Enniskillen Credit Union in 1966, and a founding member of St. Michael’s Scouts. In his younger years, he enjoyed taking part in amateur dramatics.

Retirement

In his retirement, Thomas enjoyed reading the newspaper every day, and watching sport on television, accompanied by his son, Michael.

He also enjoyed going for drives around the county and town with Michael and his daughter, Christina. “He would reminisce about who still lives there or what was there that’s now a car park. Those things, they kept dad in touch – they really were his window on the world,” said Kate.

Thomas’ funeral, which was arranged by Enda Love and Sons Funeral Directors, was held on Wednesday, November 23 at St. Michael’s Church, Enniskillen, and was attended by his wide family circle, his friends, neighbours, members of the community and representatives from the Fermanagh RAF Association.

Talking about a particularly poignant part of her father’s funeral service, Kate said: “We had watched with dad some time ago, the Ken Burns documentary on the American Civil War, and he loved the music which went with that, particularly a tune called the Ashokan Farewell.

“A family friend – New Zealand fiddler Adam Costa – played that as dad’s coffin was being taken from the church.”

Beloved husband of the late Bridie, and loving father of Kathleen ‘Kate’ (Hazlett), Christina (Francie), Kevin and Michael (Maggie), Thomas is very sadly missed by all his family and the wider family circle.