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                                I cannot really recall my feelings about leaving Leadhills, but I suppose it is

                                always good to get back home to be able to retrieve the things that had been

                                stored away for a year and to return to old school friends.  Joyce reminded

                                me that on our return to Glasgow we stayed for a time with my Aunt Estella

                                Birrell at 47 Thornbridge Road, Garrowhill, before returning to Boyd Street.

                                We managed to have a holiday in Dunoon in 1943, which was an exciting trip

                                 in itself involving taxi, train and steamer to the resort.  We stayed at the

                                 Achnamara Hotel with a long garden and a view out to sea.  There was quite

                                 a military presence in Dunoon preparing no doubt for D-Day the following year, and I remember my mother making an enquiry about some boats that were drawn up on the beach as to what type they were.  The reply from the soldier in an English accent was: "Just bouts, ma'am, just bouts"!  The picture shows Joyce and myself with a friend at the hotel with my mother looking through the lounge window.

At this period in the war we had a number of servicemen and women billeted with us as well as a police woman and another gentleman, a Mr Biggs who worked in something important.

                    However, the person whom I remember most was a soldier Private B/65994

                    William (Bill) P Presnail pictured here with me on our bomb damaged driveway.

                    Bill was the son of Norman Joseph and Violet Evelyn Presnail of Miami, Florida. 

                    He stayed with us on a couple of occasions and while on embarkation leave, I think

                    to Canada or the States, he sent me a large Nescafe tin full of American candy including Lifesavers and Chicklets a real treat for a small boy.  He is photographed with me on our drive.  It was a Mrs Hendry who was acquainted with his family who brought us the sad news that Bill had been killed in Normandy on 26th July, 1944.  He is buried in Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery; Grave XX.F.3. More details at www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2335309

V.E Day

Those who were there will never forget the utter relief and joy when Germany surrendered in May 1945.  Everyone took to the streets, bonfires were lit everywhere and the Auxiliary Fire Service had their work cut out good humouredly putting out fires which were lit again as soon as they were gone.  There was dancing at the top of Boyd Street with everyone rejoicing that the nightmare was over – at least as far as Europe was concerned.

The blackout curtains came down and the lights came on again as Vera Lynn had sung about and an era had come to an end.  One of the things long gone now that I remember about the days following the war, was the return of the lamp-lighter.  At the Cathcart Road end of Boyd Street the street lamps were still lit by gas and as dusk arrived the lamp-lighter would go from lamp to lamp turning on the gas and lighting the mantle.  He lit the gas lamps in the 'closes' of the tenement buildings as well returning at dawn to extinguish them.  The gas lamps cast a particular type of light less harsh, but sometimes they seemed to cast eerie shadows, allowing my mind to imagine all sorts of spooky things!  The gas lamps have long since been replaced.

In due course our dad was demobilised and came home, but after five years he was a virtual stranger to us but that was the case in many, many families, and by this time my mother was having increasing renal problems.

A Visit to the Canadian War Cemetery June 2005

We visited Bill Presnail's grave at the Canadian War Cemetery at Bretteville-sur-Laize on our way back for Italy in June 2005 and walked around looking at the graves of the many young men who had given their lives for our freedom.  It was a moving experience.  I took some pictures which are shown below.

 

The account in the War Grave Commission website states: The Allied offensive in north-western Europe began with the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944. For the most part, those buried at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery died during the later stages of the battle of Normandy, the capture of Caen and the thrust southwards - led initially by the 4th Canadian and 1st Polish Armoured Divisions - to close the Falaise Gap. Almost every unit of Canadian 2nd Corps is represented in the cemetery. The cemetery contains 2,957 Second World War burials, the majority Canadian, and 87 of them unidentified.