大象传媒

I was born in Blairhall a small mining village on 4th December 1933, the eldest son of Richard and Helen Lyon. On the 11th August 1939 my younger Brother James was born. At this time my Mother had problems recovering from Childbirth and it was agreed that my Mother, my new Brother and my self would go and stay with My Mothers elder Sister Lizzie, in Crossford near Dunfermline. It was September time and my elder cousins and friends went Potatoe picking in the fields down Wagon Road, and I joined them on this trip out.
In the afternoon the Air Raid sirens went off, which was quite frightening and we all scurried up the Wagon Road back towards my Aunts house. As we got about half way back, coming down the Wagon Road were these black faced men. At first we thought they were Germans but eventually we realised they were our Uncle and his friends who had been sent to bring us back to the House.
When we got back to my Aunts house, I was very concerned that we did not have a Gas Mask Container for my new baby brother and i understood we had to cover him with wet nappies. We made a spot under the table for him and got Terry Nappies wet just incase this was a Gas attack.
We stood on the front porch looking into the sky where shells were exploding and leaving circles marks all over the bright sky. The next thing we heard a plane close over head and we watched this German plane, which had been hit, with smoke pouring out of it. It went over the hill in the north and crashed into some Farmers field, we heard the explosion.
This was my first encounter of the War and the Germans First Daylight Raid on the Forth Railway Bridge. I was nearly six and ir remains still vivid to day as it was nearly 64 years ago.
My Mother never did recover from the problems of child birth and it was early in 1940 that my Father sent me on a holiday to my Aunts his older sister, in Audenshaw Manchester. My Mother died in April and my Holiday in Manchester continued. It seemed peculiar that young children were, at that time being sent to the country as evacuees and here I was on Holiday from the Country, on the outskirts of Manchester. I still don't know what message they were trying to tell me. My Holiday in Manchester continued until I was 15 years old, when My Aunt, Cousin Flora and me returned to the small mining village, Blairhall by unanimous agreement.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.