大象传媒

This story was submitted by Alan Welsh, a Radio Cumbria volunteer, on behalf of Robert (Bert) Gray and has been added to the site with his permission.

At the start of the war, Bert was a schoolboy living in Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire. Being in the countryside, people didn鈥檛 see much of the war. Bert says that if he saw a Spitfire it was a big event.

Each year the shepherds burnt the heather, but one time they just couldn鈥檛 put it out. Sanquhar was on a direct flight line for night bombers heading for Glasgow. That particular night, the Germans thought they were over Glasgow, released their bombs and bombed the burning hillside damaging absolutely nothing! The next day curiosity drew Bert and some of his school pals to the bombsite where they collected bits of shrapnel.

On another occasion, British fighter planes were chasing a German bomber and it released its remaining bombs. One hit the roadside near the Church of Scotland manse in Sanquhar, whilst two others fell in the centre of Kirkconnel. Miraculously, one of these blew away the entire side of a house whilst the owners were asleep! Apart from more than a bit of a shock, thankfully, the people were completely unhurt.

Bert left school at 14 and started work as a grocer. As a result, Bert remembers very well the exact weekly rations including: 2oz (60g) butter, 2oz fat, 4oz margarine, 8oz sugar and 3 oz cheese. Sanquhar was a coal mining area and coal miners got 12oz of cheese. Bert bought excess milk from local farmers which he made into butter to sell in the shop.

Not long after he started work, Bert was sent to visit some shepherds to collect what they owed before they moved on. Some of them were a bit short of cash, so Bert would take hens instead, paying the shopkeeper from his own pocket.

Bert bought the hens for 1s 9d (9p) a pound (450g) and sold them for 2s 6d (12.5p) a pound. Business began to boom when Bert鈥檚 Uncle Jimmy, a butcher in Glasgow, found out and started taking a regular weekly supply. A little later, Bert also started supplying a friend of Uncle Jimmy鈥檚 in London! To cope with the demand, Bert had to get a joiner to make big wooden crates to allow him transport the hens by train. Bert was making 拢10 a week from this 鈥渓ittle sideline鈥�; a lot of money for a 14 year old at that time.

Bert joined the army cadet force and then the air force cadets. He was trained to recognise aircraft types and how to fire a machine gun. As a 16 year old, Bert was using a Lewis machine gun with live ammunition! He also learnt about plane mechanics. During a two week visit to Dumfries aerodrome he helped to repair various aircraft. It was here that Bert had his first flight on 31 July 1944 in an Anson 413 鈥� it only lasted 25 minutes, but it was a fantastic experience.

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