大象传媒

This story was submitted by Laura Eastlake of ERSKINE on behalf of Norman Macleod.

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LIFE AND TRAINING:

I was born on the 1st July 1916, that鈥檚 the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. I left school when I was 15 and worked till I was about 23 in a shop but I spent 2 years learning my trade: I became a fish monger.

Well, I was terrified of a war breaking out and I didn鈥檛 want to go. I was 24 and it was the last thing I wanted to do but I was conscripted on the 13th June 1940. I was put into the HLI and that鈥檚 infantry. You鈥檝e got a much bigger chance of being wounded there. I mean, you can get killed in them all but the infantry are the ones who are up at the front there doing the fighting.

Once I was in, though, I quite liked it. It was the best thing I ever did and I enjoyed it. We had a lot of tough times but on the whole it did me a world of good. I didn鈥檛 get wounded or anything, mind you. I came through it and I enjoyed it.

I wasn鈥檛 in a rifle company; I was in the intelligence section. We were responsible for manning OP鈥檚, reading and distributing maps and finding out about the ranks of the German army.

We did ski training in 1942 and 1943 at Glenshee and spent 3 months in tents and that was good fun. We just got up and we skied all day. That鈥檚 all we did for three months and it was to toughen you up because it was very cold and the tents got blown away once or twice with the wind. My friend was a champion skiier. He married a Belgian wife and, well, I wasn鈥檛 as good as him, but I was pretty good.

On 6th June we were sent to do assault training. We thought we were away to D-day but we didn鈥檛 go until the end of September.

COMBAT:

I did three years training in Maryhill Barracks and then we were sent down to Cavendish and that was just after BEF and the 6th Battalion, (the one that I eventually joined,) had just come back. They had been over in France for about 3 weeks. They were lucky because they didn鈥檛 have many casualties and that鈥檚 when I joined them there.

We arrived on the 3rd September. D-Day had been June so from there we went up to Brussels and from there we went to Arnhem Field. There was a big battle at Arnhem with paratroops. It wasn鈥檛 a success and we were there - our battalion was supposed to get sent over in gliders but they needed one battalion to go with the medical supplies, the ambulances and the artillery. They can鈥檛 drop them with parachutes so we went ahead on the 3rd of September.

That was the 10 worst days we had in the war. It was just after it had failed and there was bitter fighting afterwards. We were in for about ten days and it really was murder, terrible, awful. We鈥檇 never been in action before that. During it I just thought 鈥渢his is it, I don鈥檛 care what happens. I wouldn鈥檛 worry if I get killed or not.鈥� It was so terrible, it was really was. We never had a time like that again, luckily. We had a wee bloke killed. There were six of us, in a slip trench and a wee bloke was up changing his socks - 18 he was - killed that day. You can鈥檛 believe it until you鈥檝e been through it. And yet, once you鈥檝e been through it it鈥檚 probably good for you, although you don鈥檛 realise it. It鈥檚 not nice at the time.

After that we were sent to liberate Antwerp. Antwerp was a port they wanted. The division eventually came over, probably about 3 weeks after us and we all joined up with the Canadians and we liberated Walcheren and once that was liberated we could open up Antwerp and use it because it was so valuable for the ships.

As you go in to Walcheren there鈥檚 a causeway. It was an island but there was a causeway and we had an officer wounded going up there. There were snipers and there鈥檚 stuff dropping and there are mortars and shelling going on and you really have to keep your head down. By that time we knew what we could run into. There had been a whole company captured at Arnhem - 120 men - and we had quite a lot of people killed. You鈥檙e told, though, not to touch them because they could be booby trapped and you have to be especially careful of going into houses at night. You鈥檙e told to wait outside until daylight.

THE ENEMY:

You never like the enemy but that鈥檚 how it is. One of our jobs was taking prisoners and we had to search them. Whenever one of the rifle companies get someone they bring them back to us and we had to see if they had any watches or knives. We had to make sure they didn鈥檛 have anything they could damage anybody with. And then they鈥檙e send back through us, the I-section, that was one of the jobs we had. Some of them are just boys. There鈥檚 old men and young men and every one is a son.

After the war we had a caf茅, a club that we ran for the soldiers and we had German waitresses in with us eventually! But that was a year after the war. And we had a club just after the war finished and we had a German band, a dance band - four blokes- and we fed them and had a laugh with them.

A WAR WEDDING:

You didn鈥榯 get leave during the fighting. For nine months during the fighting you could maybe get a pass to Antwerp for 48 hours but you didn鈥檛 go home. But once the war finished you start to get leaves then. Maybe every three months you get a fortnight home.

I had a girlfriend by that time, Rina, and so I spent my time with her. I remember once when I was going over to France they said 鈥淟ook, you can have a fortnight鈥檚 leave if you鈥檇 like to get married.鈥� I let my fianc茅 know and I said 鈥淟ook, I鈥檓 coming home on Saturday鈥� and she arranged it for the Tuesday. So鈥� I鈥檇 just got home on the Sunday and a Policeman came to the door and said 鈥淵ou鈥檝e been recalled. You have to report back to your unit.鈥� And I said 鈥淲haat? I鈥檝e just got a fortnight鈥檚 leave.鈥�
鈥淚 can鈥檛 do anything about it.鈥� He says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e just been recalled to your unit. You鈥檙e going overseas.鈥� So that was the Sunday night. So Monday morning I went down, there was an officer in Glasgow. Funny, he was a wholesaler in the fish market, I knew him personally. I went down to him and I said 鈥淟ook, I鈥檝e got word to report back.鈥� I said, 鈥淚鈥檓 getting married on Tuesday. I鈥檝e got it all arranged. I鈥檝e arranged the church and everything.鈥�
He says 鈥淥h I can鈥檛 help you. I鈥檓 really sorry.鈥� And then he said, 鈥淟ook, if you don鈥檛 give me the impression that you鈥檙e going to go down and get on the train and go back then I鈥檓 supposed to arrest you.鈥� So I thought ok, and I went back and I waited till the next day and I got married on the Tuesday at 5 o鈥檆lock in the church as planned, went down to the Empire and had a do and I left at ten o鈥� clock the next morning.

I got back and the battalion had gone but there was a rear party. They have an advance party, then the battalion and then a rear party. So I went back and met the officer and I was posted as a deserter then and he said, 鈥淥h you鈥檙e back! Did you manage to get married?鈥� and I said 鈥淵es.鈥� So he said 鈥淥k, away you go and collect your stuff, son.鈥�

So that was me married on the 29th and back on the 3rd of September.

ARMY LIFE AND ARMY FOOD:

Well, if we were in the countryside, we could shoot chickens and the Germans had stacks of food! They had eggs, all kinds of eggs, preserved. We were out in the country, farms, and you could go into a farm and usually the people had gone because of the fighting but we could go in and just help ourselves. There were all kinds of eggs, you know- big, big eggs. And quite often you鈥檙e supplied with pre-packed meals and oh, the food鈥檚 lovely! You鈥檇 get everything - you鈥檇 get butter and corned beef and all of that and it鈥檚 all nice: baked beans, bacon, biscuits and you could change your cigarettes for bread. In Germany it was a kind of dark brown bread, much nicer than the hard biscuits, so we used to get that but we managed - we lived.
We all had to look after ourselves and you go in twos really.

Even going to the bathroom was an ordeal you know? You were out in the open and the next thing you know there鈥檚 mortar bombs and they don鈥檛 come singularly They come about six at a time and there鈥檚 snipers and your guns are going and their guns are going鈥hat鈥檚 what sticks in my mind.

You pair up with someone. The bloke I was with was a plumber and one of the fundamentals when you go anywhere is to dig a hole. You dig a hole for your safety and you get in it. Well I鈥檇 never dug a hole in my life but he was a plumber and I was like 鈥淐rikey, it鈥檚 a work of art!鈥� so I stuck with him and I was always kidding him on. You go in twos in case something happens to one of you. A week before the war finished, him and another lad went up to do a reconnaissance and the other bloke got his leg blown off and Johnny got a wound in his back but he was not bad. He recovered but the other bloke was taken back and had his foot taken off. And that was a week before the fighting finished 鈥� the end of April.

AFTER THE WAR

Once the war was finished it was smashing! I had a good job, I was in the I-section and then I went into the PRI, the President of the Regimental Institute. That鈥檚 the folk who look after the things from the boys. I had to go for the beer and again it was because I could read a map. I had to go up to the breweries. I also got them cigarettes and chocolate and I distributed them to the companies. They get a share of everything and the beer goes to the wee pub we had and it was dished out to everyone.

At the 50th Anniversary, the Germans flew us from London to Bremen and back and put us up at a first class hotel! They congratulated us for releasing them鈥or freeing them. We had a smashing time there. Bremen Town Hall was a marvellous place. The Chief of Police was there and we went down to Monty鈥檚 Headquarters.

I鈥檓 reading a book at the moment about Colditz too. How they escaped from that place, oh, it was marvellous. I鈥檇 hate to have been a prisoner of war, It must have been terrible, terrible. We were lucky that way鈥� No, I鈥檓 no hero. I was just doing my job.

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