大象传媒

MY WAR

I will never forget September 1st 1939. The world changed that day. My sister and I were going to a wedding in Edinburgh. I was thirteen 鈥� dressed to kill 鈥� with my first pair of silk stockings and a straw hat with forget-me-nots round the brim. When we arrived in the city there was an unusual buzz 鈥� an excitement 鈥� everyone hurrying 鈥� army vehicles and soldiers rushing this way and that. Germany had invaded Poland, we learned, when we arrived at the church. The bridegroom鈥檚 brother was to be 鈥渂est man鈥� but had been called to his army unit, as was the second choice. Number three had to rush away as soon as the wedding ceremony was over. The atmosphere was electric. Sadly the bridegroom, my father鈥檚 cousin, never saw his brother again. He died as a Japanese prisoner of war.

As a farmer鈥檚 daughter I had to 鈥渕uck in鈥� and as it was a dairy farm, I also had to muck out! I thought I was very important, as very often I had to help milk the cows, wash and sterilize all the dairy equipment before I went to school. It was no chore though, for I loved working on the farm 鈥� excepting shawing turnips!

Eventually Cathie arrived. Cathie was transported from being a mill girl in Coats Thread Mill in Paisley to being a landgirl near Kilmarnock. Landgirls did not enjoy the glamour of a smart uniform 鈥� nor did they always have the company of young people of the same age. Generally they stayed with the farming family they worked for and undoubtedly proved to be an invaluable asset on the farms in Ayrshire. Incidentally, quite a few of them became farmer鈥檚 wives and made a success of that too!

The Young Farmers Clubs still carried on meeting. Sometimes it would be for a stock judging competition, sometimes a talk by a prominent farmer, etc. Once coming home from a book-keeping class, in the black 鈥� out I ran 鈥� into a lamp post and came to lying in the gutter with a big crowd gawping down at me!

German and Italian prisoners from local camps were obliged to help out on farms at busy times and occasionally British soldiers were sent to farms for respite from the battle front. One of these, I remember, was a Londoner 鈥� a chef, serving as a commando in Lord Lovat鈥檚 Batallion, just returned from a Vanguard operation at a very crucial part on the French coast. Very brave men.

The German teacher, being a German was interned during most of the war. Ingredients were hard to come by at the 鈥淒ough School鈥� 鈥� but we did make a Christmas cake. The worst thing I can remember was the night a plane came down on the neighbouring farm. It was a British plane, I believe, and the New Zealand crew were all killed.

I feel very privileged to survive the war and to enjoy the freedom we have lived through since.

Esther Caldwell.

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