Maureen Flavin Sweeney was recently given an official honor in the Congressional Record due a weather report she had given on June 3rd, 1944.
Apparently back in County Mayo, which is located on the coast of Ireland, Sweeney happened to be a weather station operator in the remote North Atlantic. She had noticed that the barometer in the station was dropping quickly, which meant there was a storm brewing, getting ready to pass over the English Channel soon.
But little did she know was that her weather report, which caused the D-Day landings to be postponed by at least 24 hours, ended up saving thousands of lives.
Maureen, who is 98 years old, was given the honor in the Tí Arie nursing home where she lives by Jack Bergman, who is the highest ranking veteran serving in the U.S. Congress.
According to the Irish Times, he wrote “Her skill and professionalism were crucial in ensuring Allied victory, and her legacy will live on for generations to come.”
As the report explains, the weather station at the Blacksod Point post office was recording the weather every hour, which it would send to Dublin, then to the offices of the Allied Expeditionary Force in London. Early in the morning on the next day, ‘Mrs. Sweeney turned 21, an agitated English woman rang her office asking “please check… please repeat.”
But when she reread the barometer once more, this time with the help of her husband Ted, the result was still the same, which meant that storm was going to pass over the English Channel on June 5th, and because of this, General Eisenhower postponed the D-Day landings by 24 hours. Astonishingly, Sweeney didn’t learn about the significance of her weather report until a decade after the war took place.
It was explained that the allies needed clear skies for their air support, as well as calm seas to make sure that they would have safe landing for their troops. And despite the thousands of lies that had been lost during the five landings on the beaches, they would have been even more deaths if Sweeney’s report had not come in.
Her son, Vincent Sweeney, is an eager military researcher. He shared just how proud he was of his mom and the efforts she and the rest of the family did during the war. He explained, “The hair rose on the back of my neck in Normandy.”
It’s a well-known fact that the deaths on D-Day were considerable, “it could have been a lot more” if the weather report from the weather station his mom was stationed in didn’t come through. In fact, Vincent also said that despite how remote the area of Blacksod is, it played a huge part in history. He added, “For such a small place a lot has happened here.”
He also explained that he was just happy overall about his mom’s incredible contribution to the war, explaining that he was just happy “that she got it right.”
“The main thing was that she got the forecast right…We could be wearing jackboots, if you like,” he added.
To find out more about her story, check the report on RTÉ One below.
96-year-old Maureen Sweeney recalls her pivotal roll in the D-Day Landings 75 years ago today in #StormFrontinMayo Thursday 10.15pm pic.twitter.com/XwD5HZVsfU
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne) June 6, 2019
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True Activist / Report a typo
