大象传媒

MEMORIES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN SCOTLAND

I lived about 10 miles from Glasgow so when the latter and Clydebank were bombed in 1940/41 ( the targets being the shipyards, engineering, and oil installations on the river Clyde ) we were very close to the bombing. We were also surrounded by many steelworks and armament factories in places like Motherwell, Rutherglen, Falkirk,Parkhead, etc. For several weeks every evening the air raid sirens sounded when all my family moved into a shelter built in an outhouse in the garden. I was aged 8 at the time and it seemed to be 鈥榝un鈥� to have to do my homework in the shelter while the planes flew overhead and we could hear bombing in the distance and see the lights of places on fire, but not so funny to have to try and sleep there most of the night until the all-clear siren sounded. Once or twice a 鈥榮tray鈥� bomb fell nearby but it was very noisy as an anti aircraft gun battery was closeby trying to shoot down the German bombers.

Here are a few stories I can remember:-

One beautiful moonlight when the sirens sounded my parents and I were making our way to the shelter; the sky was clear, stars twinkling, everything was still and quiet, and I suddenly dropped one of my 鈥楧inky鈥� toys I was carrying. It clattered on the yard with what seemed a tremendous 鈥榗lang鈥�, when my mother hissed 鈥� Shoosh! Don鈥檛 make such a noise, the Germans will hear you!!鈥�

My father was in the Royal Observer Corps during the war. ( Their job was to man observation posts looking out for enemy aircraft and warning the big cities like Glasgow that an attack was coming) He used to do nightshift as he worked normally during the day. One night on duty he and a colleague heard a single plane fly overhead which they recognised as German and reported to their HQ.They heard on the radio the next post reporting the same and then the plane noise suddenly stopped. They knew no more about it until next morning in the papers it was reported thet Rudolf Hess, one of Hitlers鈥� deputies had flown to Scotland to seek a peace deal with Britain; he was trying to see the Duke of Hamilton whom he had known before the war and whose estate was about 20 miles away. He was taken prisoner by a local farmer and the army and after Nuremburg at the end of the war spent many years in Spandau prison.

My father attended a meeting in Glasgow one night when an air raid started. Whilst waiting for a bus home ( buses usually ran if possible during raids ) a woman ran out of a nearby flat saying 鈥� a German has landed in my back garden !鈥� At that moment my fathers鈥� bus arrived and they left. Only later did they discover that it was not a German parachutist that landed but a German parachute mine which had been aimed to drop in the river Clyde in order to damage shipping. Fortunately it had not exploded otherwise neither my father nor the woman would have lived to tell the tale!

I travelled to school by train during the war. School life was fairly normal as there were not many air raids in daytime, but many of our teachers were ladies as the men were in the services. Because of rationing school dinners were 鈥測uch鈥�!

I often helped my mother do the shopping when things were rationed; we had no sweets, chocolate, or other 鈥榞oodies鈥�. I well remember being sent to the butchers鈥� for twopence worth of corned beef 鈥� our ration for the week 鈥� and asking if he had any sausages, which were not rationed if he made them himself from anything he had scrounged. Eggs were made from dried powder from a packet so you could only have them scrambled.

One Sunday I had been to Sunday School when the sirens sounded on my way home. Before I could reach hoime an air raid warden bundled us all into a nearby shelter;I was very frightened without my parents even although my home was only a few yards further down the road.

My mother was an air raid warden. Her job was to patrol the streets looking for houses which had lights showing during the blackout and helping people to get home in the dark. It was very dark at night with no street lamps; all the buses , cars, and vehicles etc. had hooded lights.

At the end of the war ( I was 13 ) the servicemen were being demobbed; our village organised 鈥榃elcome Home鈥� events for those returning and raised money to help those get started again in family life. My parents were involved in this and I used to accompany them. I was very proud once to meet Sir Harry Lauder who was a very famous Scottish singer who came to entertain.

The war ended in 1945 but many things like bread, furniture, petrol, were still rationed for many more years, some I think until about 1953. My father grew as many vegetables as he could in the garden because everything had to be 鈥榟ome grown鈥�, nothing could be imported from foreign countries until long after the war was over. It seemed to be years before I could have a bicycle and then it was a 鈥渦tility鈥� model, painted all black 鈥� no chrome plating or bright colours as now!

P ROLLAND
August 2005

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