大象传媒

I was five years old when the war started and eleven when it ended. Interesting times for a young boy!

I remember, of course, the things that most people remember, and have been well documented elsewhere - things like rationing (especially of sweets and chocolate), gas masks and air raid practice. Nairn, however, was never bombed, so it was a safe haven for any families who moved north.

It was also a secure place to station military personnel, and the area round the Moray Firth coast was littered with army camps, as well as a number of RAF airfields (or aerodromes as they were called then). And at Invergordon, across the water from Nairn, there was the big Royal Navy base.

So many of my memories of the war are of seeing lots of military in the local area. As well as having camps outside Nairn, and pitching tents in a suitable space in the town itself, they commandeered the best hotels!

Apart from the British troops, there were soldiers from Canada and Poland, easily identifiable by the flashes on their shoulders. But the ones who captured the imagination were the Indians - complete with turbans! An amazing sight for a young boy to behold. For the Indians it must have been a strange experience coming to the north of Scotland with its comparatively cold weather - and snow!

The Indians were very friendly and as far as I am aware were welcomed in the town. If there was any racial prejudice against them from the very close community they had 'invaded', I didn't see any or hear anything of it - not that I knew what it was then anyway. We weren't discouraged from speaking to them and, looking back, I suppose they felt isolated and wanted to be friendly. So they responded.

The Indian soldiers were camped under canvas in the Farmers' Field, which was then on the edge of town. They invited my pals and me to their tents, which had paraffin lamps and little stoves. And cooked us food! Can you imagine something like that happening now? I don't think so, do you? But those were different times, and our parents were not worried about it. And they had no reason to be.

In addition to making us rice and chapattis, the soldiers also taught us some Indian words, like 'char' and 'dhobi' for tea and washing. We were keen to learn. Those were happy days.

I'm sure meeting the Indian soldiers was my first experience of talking to foreigners and, for all I know, subconsciously may have helped me later in life to accept people who are different from me. I鈥檇 like to go to India some day - before it鈥檚 too late...

William

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