大象传媒

This contribution is taken from the collections of the McLean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock. Inverclyde Council

"That brings back memories. My baby was a year old that night and my other little girl just over 3 years. When the siren went - we lived in a two apartment tenement so we used to close both vestibule doors - we went in the lobby and I had each child in a pram. That was the night that the distillery got it. In fact the buildings at the top of the street were alight and Hope Street, quite near the distillery, came down and incendiary bombs were in the back green.

But when the distillery got it the flames from there came running right round - my windows were blown in. To prevent the children seeing the flames I closed both doors to protect them in this little lobby and to keep them from being terrified.

I was terrified but I had to be brave in front of the children."

"Were you on your own with them?"

"Yes. My husband was permanently on nights at the torpedo factory so it was just a case of doing the best I could.

The raid went on for some time. I sang songs to the children and read story books just to keep their minds off it."

"Did anyone visit you like an air raid warden or anyone like that?"

"There were people in a shelter outside. I lived in the bottom flat and there was a shelter near hand but I was so busy attending to the children that that was all I thought about. It must have been in the early hours of the morning when my father made his way up from Seafield down the Esplanade. He took one pram I took the other but every street you went to flames were running up ~ the place was all ablaze. It was a case of dodging streets till we finally got to his place it must have taken us an hour.

The next day everything was a shambles."

"Did anyone try to stop you going along the street?

NO. It was chaotic. There was too much damage. Everyone was helping out trying to find relatives. In fact my own brother was up on the hill near the distillery and they had a six months old baby buried under debris. My other brother lost his father-in-law that night trying to save a little boy. A lot of lives were lost up on the hill."

"Did your brother get his baby out of the rubble?"

"Yes, he did, but it had ill effects as the child grew up as he used to be affected by claustrophobia. These things did happen you know - there were ill effects on babies.

"What happened after you left the children at your father's house?"

"I stayed there until morning and my husband usually came home about eight o'clock in the morning, so my father took me back to my own place. It was devastated. Buildings were down - there was debris - no water although carts came round giving an allocation of water. Most people were evacuated but I had to stay put - not many did - but I had to because of my husband's work."

"What happened to your house if the windows were blown in? How did you manage to live with 2 young children?"

"They just boarded up the place. We just had to do the best you could - there were so many people needing help and so many deaths. In fact the latter got priority. Houses like ours didn鈥檛 count. We just had to make the best of it. patching up as well as we could. On the night of the first alert in Greenock, a year previous my husband was in hospital having had a big operation. When all the other patients were taken away he had to remain in the bed because he could not be moved. His attitude in life was "If I survived that night nothing else mattered."

"How did you go on about getting food and things like that?"

"Well there were shops just round the corner and Lynedoch Street was quite a good shopping area. We were fortunate also in that I had stored in quite a bit. I had cases full of tinned food which you were supposed to use but that was the last of my thoughts when the emergency did happen. But I had the food as a reserves

"Did you get any help from the authorities so far as food supplies were concerned ~ for example milk?"

"No we had to buy as we were considered lucky - we had survived. But families who had lost people and their houses well they had to go to the town hall and they got temporary help - food, clothing and some money."

"How long was it before your house was got back into reasonable order?

"My husband was in the house during the day so he did his own repairs as far as possible. Everyone did for their own comfort. Everyone was very helpful - in times of stress you find that."

"What did you do about getting things like glass for the windows?"

"We boarded them up with wood ~ we made do with anything available."

"How long was your house like that?"

"It was some time. They could not do everyone at once the whole area was badly damaged and there were people worse off than us. They had no homes and had to receive attention first. Everyone helped and did as much as they could before the authorities got round to it. There was a great spirit of everyone helping everyone else. At times like that the best in human nature comes out."

"Have you any other vivid memories of World War II?

"The Canadians occupied Greenock. This was a base for them and in fact I have 2 cousins who married Canadians. I also had cousins on my father's side who were in the Canadian forces - one in the army and one in the navy. They visited us while they were stationed here plus all their friends to get Scottish hospitality. On VE or VJ night one had just left my house when the victory bells went. They all went mad with joy what a night to remember and I think I still have a kit bag that was full of beer. Everybody spoke to everyone else that night - all were out dancing and singing to all hours of the morning and everyone sharing what they had with everyone else.. That was a great night - the streets were decorated and we all baked and put rations together to have a big jollification. My husband was one of a big family and there were always going away or welcome home parties in spite of all the worry. When they all came back that was really something."

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