大象传媒

Born in 1935,my first true memory is the day war was declared. I was at the holiness meeting in the Salvation Army and became very frightened when my mother and all the other ladies started to cry; I couldnt understand what was wrong. On the way home at about noon, the air raid siren started and an ARP Warden complete with gas mask came yelling at my mother" get that child off the street! Dont you know there is a war on!" Lord knows what he expected! My father was employed in Bruntons Wiremills and was never called up but had to spend time 'fire watching' on the lookout for incendiary bombs. A neighbour who should have but did not participate in this scheme was the victim of a practical joke on the night of the Clydebank Blitz. Old glass was placed outside his bedroom window and then the men carried old bricks and rubble on to the roof and threw them on to the glass- he moved from his bed quickly. Like all the boys, as I grew older and more aware I started to collect military buttons and badges from as many nationalities and services as I could ( I wish I still had that collection) The children from our neighbourhood had three main ways to do our bit to help the war effort-take part in backgreen concerts in aid of the Spitfire Fund: act as casualties for the ARP exercises; and push the wheelchair bound wounded soldiers who were out from Edenhall Hospital back to the hospital in the evening

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