大象传媒

My earliest war memory in Paisley is about going down to the 'Anderson' shelter at the bottom of the garden with my Dad, Mum and Sister. These shelters were very common and made of strong corrugated iron in sizes of four or six persons. They were set three feet into the ground and covered with the earth that was dug out of the hole they were in. (I do recall that it was a gang of Irish men that came round to dig the holes as it was the first time I had heard the Irish tongue). There was no door at the front and you just had to drop in on to a stool or something, and there was a removable section of the iron at the back for an escape hatch if the front got blocked by bomb debris.
My father built four canvas bunks to lie down on and being a WW1 veteran, and well used to shells and bombs, he then decided that the initial covering of earth would be useless in a near bomb explosion.
Consequently he (and I) along with many others doing the same thing, took an old wheelbarrow to a field nearby and dug out large turfs to pack all round and over our shelter. Soon it was nearly twice its original size but he was satisfied that we four would be better protected!
We were in the shelter during the time of the Clydebank blitz, at which time Paisley got hit a few times, one of which was a tragic direct hit of a first aid post killing six or seven doctors who had congregated there ready to help if needed. It was very cold in the shelter and one suggestion in the local papers was to light a candle on the floor and put a flower pot over it and there was your heater! Certainly the pot got warm, but as for heating a four man shelter with no door, I leave it to the reader's imagination as to its effectiveness.
Out on the streets next day on the way to school, we searched for pieces of shrapnel from the local aircraft guns, and vied with each other as to who had the biggest piece.

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