What, you may ask, has something that happened over 51 years ago got to do with Carndonagh? What relevance has it after so many years and so many wars on different continents since that time?

Let me tell you the tragic story of one of the unfortunate passengers of tbe Arandora Star, namely Cesare Camozzi, an italian Internee, and how he came to be interred in the Catholic cemetery in Carndonagh on a warm and sultry August morning in 1940, after Requiem Mass celebrated by the late Father Daniel Reid, P.P., St. Macartan's, Carndonagh.

Les Formhals - as a stewart on the "Arandora Star"

The Arandora Star was built at the Cammell Laird Shipyard, Birkenhead on Merseyside Liverpool, and was launched on January, 1927. Her captain was Edgar Wallace Moulton and this new, sleek looking 15,000 ton cruise liner was to be his pride and joy. Within two years of launching, the Arandora Star underwent a major overhaul to convert her into a first-class liner for first-class passengers.
The 50-year-old captain Moulton was to take the Arandora Star on cruises to the most exotic ports and countries of the world and many of the world's top businessmen and women, royalty and literary figures dined with him at his table.
During the 1930's he took the Arandora Star on winter cruises to Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast, Trinidad, Florida, Cuba and the Canary Islands. The springtime saw her cruising in the Mediterranean, and summer it was to Germany, Scandinavia and the Fiords of Norway.
The 1930's also saw the election of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany and the Civil War In Spain.
The world was heading rapidly for turmoil and war was imminent.
At 11 a.m. on September 3rd, 1939, Britain declared war on Germany, effective from 5 p.m. that evening.
That announcement was to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of Italians, Germans and Austrians living in Britain, in a most dramatic and horrendous fashion. Life would never be the same again.

Part 2
  "COLLAR THE LOT"

Star of Shame by Des Hickey & Gus Smith Published by Madison