大象传媒

I am submitting this story on behalf of my friend, Linda Brown. Linda is aware of the 大象传媒's Rights And Responsibilities Policy and has agreed to her story being submitted under them.

Linda was aged 4 when war broke out, but for most of the following 6 years she was quite unaware of any danger. Her mother protected her, well aware of the tragedies from the First World War which had blighted her life. Linda鈥檚 mother had become a widow at the age of 29 when her husband who had shrapnel permanently embedded in his body, died of pneumonia contracted after an attack of measles had found him unable to withstand 鈥渢he crisis鈥� of the infection. This tragedy was compounded by his having caught the measles infection from Linda鈥檚 half-sister, June. Furthermore, Linda鈥檚 mother had lost her brother, George, who had been killed in action in France in 1917. When Linda was born of her mother鈥檚 second marriage, the family hoped for a new start. However, by 1939 war again became a reality.

Linda鈥檚 earliest memory is of being evacuated to Ferrygate Farm, Dirleton, East Lothian with her mother in charge of a small band of children. Linda has fond memories of walking through Owl Wood to the yellow sands and of obtaining raspberry jam from the farm. A less happy memory is of her catching nits from a motherless lass. Linda had her pigtails sheared to be replaced by a sugar-bowl haircut and she had to undergo the ordeal of 鈥渢he dreaded tooth-comb.鈥� (Nits occur in almost every memory of the war. I remember my mother going through my hair with a steel comb and her constant admonitions to me to 鈥渟tand still.鈥� Nasty memory 鈥� Ed.) Shortly thereafter, Linda and her mother returned to Edinburgh.

Linda was surprised to find on her return that her friend Margaret Brattisani and her parents had vanished from the street. No-one explained why. Had they been interned because they were Italian? Linda has never been able to solve the mystery. Linda鈥檚 sister ,June, 12 years her senior, was now in the 5th year at Broughton Secondary School. The school was adjacent to the gas storage drum in McDonald Rd. and some of the senior classes were moved to their house in 38 Bellevue Rd. for safety.

Linda鈥檚 next move was Evacuation No. 2, this time to Penicuik, but this was short-lived since she became 鈥渢he catalyst鈥� for a return to the capital. Mrs Reid was pushing Linda on a swing, when the drone of aeroplane engines overhead, the Luftwaffe heading for Clydebank, distracted Linda who ran in front of a swing, suffering a nasty cut to her forehead. She still wears the stitch marks as a badge of honour. Mrs Reid refused to have an Anderson shelter in her garden since that would have meant the digging-up of her beloved lilac tree. As soon as the air raid siren wailed, the family rushed for the shelter under Gray鈥檚 printing works in Hopetoun St. Linda loved such moments of drama ( by her own admission, she has a low boredom threshold) and one occasion remarked to her mother: 鈥淚 hope the Germans come tonight.鈥� Meanwhile, Mr Reid acted as an air raid warden, patrolling the streets on the lookout for any chinks of light. (True to form, Linda required the service of the ARP van when she was bitten on the nose by the Proudfoot鈥檚 dog, Dandy. The first stop: The Sick Children鈥檚 Hospital.) June was employed in one of the big insurances offices in St. Andrew鈥檚 Square and took her turn of fire-watching. Later, she became a land girl on a farm in the Moorfoots. She and her friend Beatrice Proudfoot looked natty in their jodhpurs as they did their bit for King and Country.

The highlight of the week for Linda was Mrs Thomson鈥檚 knitting bee where the girls did their bit for the troops. On Wednesday evenings the girls would grope their way along the street, torches pointing downwards, to Mrs Thomson鈥檚 house. Nothing was wasted, older garments were unpicked and the wool rewound to use again. No throw away society in those days. Mrs Thomson kept the girls enthralled by relating ghost stories while they plained and purled the evening away. Mrs T. also organized the girls into a troupe to stage an act in Bellevue School playground in aid of the Fighting Fund. The girls strutted to 鈥淭he Wedding Of The Painted Dolls,鈥� adorned in skirts, boleros and bows of brightly coloured crepe paper 鈥� a joy in that grey world. Linda鈥檚 appearance detracted somewhat from the magic. She had recently fallen from a tree and sported a nice scab on her knee to prove it.

` Mrs Reid, like other housewives, performed small miracles in the kitchen in an effort to vary the limited types of fare. Everything seemed to be rationed and in short supply. Eggs, one per book, spam ( Linda loved spam fritters), homemade sweets. Linda, like all of us, had to wait until after the war to sample a banana. Meanwhile, she had to be contented by a visit to the Botanic Garden to look at the one rather poor specimen of a banana tree..

Around 1943/44 Linda鈥檃 family joined another family for a holiday in Garvald, East Lothian. There they met some Italian POWs. The prisoners received payment, but the coins had a hole punched in them, thus confining their circulation to the immediate area. One, prisoner, Giovanni, showed photographs of his children. In answer to the children鈥檚 questions he said that he had no time for Mussolini, Hitler or Churchill.

In 1945 the British Army liberated the concentration camp at Belsen . The newsreels made an impact on Linda as she realized the barbarity of the Nazi regime. However, she considers the Second World War to have been a just war, although a 鈥渉ellish鈥� price was paid. On VE night, Linda鈥檚 10th birthday, she joined the rest of the rejoicing crowd in the city centre. Linda鈥檚 mother embraced pacifism and socialism In addition to the ravages the First World War had visited upon her, her brother, Willie, returned from Dunkirk with a bullet in his knee.

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