大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War Website by Alison Tebbutt of the CSV Action Desk Team on behalf of Etta Macpherson, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

When the war started I was thirteen years old and lived in Sorn, a small village in Ayrshire. The war did not really interrupt our lives very much at first. Like all villages we had our version of the L.V.D. later known as the Home Guard, and we children thought the 'mock' battles between them and the army was terrific entertainment. Sorn Castle was one of the main places our men defended. I remember witessing an Army Captain having his cap knocked off by a mock grenade-a ball of hay covered with newspaper-and the officer picked it up and threw it back at his attacker!
We always felt the army 'discovered' us after Dunkirk. The paratroopers used the fields of the surrouding farms to practice their jumps, and although we had to walk over two miles to witness them they were much too exciting to miss. The paratroopers were put out off their planes without maps and had to find thier way back to base. All the signposts had been removed and as most of the troops were English we locals with our Ayrshire accents were not much help. At that time one of the slogans was 'Careless talk costs lives, be like Dad-Keep Mum.'
I can remember one bright moonlight night walking home from a neighbouring village watching a plane following the course of the river Ayr. That plane dropped a mine on Ayr harbour and I think it was then when I realised that war was no longer something entertaining. Ayr harbour was only fiftenn minutes from my home.
When Clydebank and Glasgow were bombed my mother and I went to Glasgow to check on our relatives. I shall never forget the buildings, they seem to have been sliced open/ and kettles, pots, pans and teapots were still on the fireplaces, wardrobes and doors missing and charred clothes hanging in them, blowing in the wind.
The build up to D-Day saw a lot of military activity in our area. Tanks, bren-gun carriers, lorries, jeeps and landing craft arrived in the fields where the paratroopers had trained. The men rested during the day and then moved on under cover of darkness. We did not risk going out after dark during this time as the vehicles had hardly any lights and the noise of moving vehicles was quite frightening. There were quite a number of casualties among the miltary in the exercise.
Rationing was never really a problem with us, all the land available grew vegetables and the crops were shared. The farmers gave permission for the men with shotguns to shoot over their land so our meat ration was augmented with rabbit, hare and pigeon, also the river Ayr flowed through the village, from there we trout in spring and summer, and grayling in winter. Anything to spare was passed round.
I think I was extremely fortunate during World War Two. We lost no-one from our immediate family, I lost no possessions and was never hungry.

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