Category: Wartime Memories

Historical, Scotland, Wartime Memories, World War1 Comment

The Prince of Wales – Part two

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

THE PRINCE OF WALES A SAILOR’S LOG (Part 2) Continuing from this story about the battleship the Prince of Wales and reconstructing the life of a young sailor who was member of her crew for the whole of her short 6 months of life. 1.6 Ships Diary In trying to make a stab at where Jimmy had been and the decorations he was awarded, I have created a Ships Diary for the full service life of the battleship The Prince of Wales: It should be remembered that while you are reading the following that the Prince of Wales only went … Continue reading The Prince of Wales – Part two

Historical, Scotland, Wartime Memories, World War5 Comments

The Prince of Wales – Part one

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories Number 6 A SAILOR’S LOG A riveting look back to the battleship, Prince of Wales and a bit by bit, reconstruction of the momentous experiences of a young sailor from Edinburgh who served as a member of her crew for the whole of her short 6 months of life. 1.1 A Memory Jolted. When, in 2018, my wife and I embarked on a cruise out of Rosyth, (the old and still operational, naval dockyard near Edinburgh) my brain pulled a trigger that fired up a wartime memory. We had just got on board, emptied our cases, had a … Continue reading The Prince of Wales – Part one

Historical, Old Edinburgh, Wartime Memories, World War2 Comments

How Rationing came about

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories No. 5 The following are my experiences and memories growing up in Leith, Scotland during the Second World War. It felt as though the war had been going on for ever. It was Saturday again and for me it meant an early morning trip to join the queue outside the Leith Provident bakery shop in Bangor Road. Bread and other bakery items were not rationed, and Saturday was the day that the ‘Store’ bakers fired up the oven and made a few cakes, buns and tea-bread from the rationed ingredients, necessary for the job they had managed to … Continue reading How Rationing came about

Historical, World War, Wartime Memories5 Comments

Rationing and the Merchant Navy

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

WARTIME MEMORIES No 4 I remember Rationing, and here is why it happened: Before the war, Britain imported two thirds of its food from it’s Dominions, principally Canada. This included half of its meat and most of its cheese, sugar, fruit, wheat and some other foodstuff. Its oil came mainly from Trinidad, Mexico & Venezuela. Right from the start of WW2, in order to carry out Hitler’s plan to starve the Britain into surrender, minefields were laid, and packs of German U boats – as well as surface raiders and aircraft – were sent out to hunt down and sink … Continue reading Rationing and the Merchant Navy

Historical, RAF, Scotland, Wartime Memories15 Comments

I was there!

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories 2 History records that, for a period of eight months, from September 7th 1940 until May 11th 1941, Nazi Germany subjected Great Britain to a campaign of, intense bombing: Blitzkrieg. During which time the Luftwaffe carried out continuous air raids on London and other strategic targets across the length and breadth of the U.K. What is not so well known though is that almost 11 months before that, on 16th October 1939, the first air raid on the U.K. had already taken place and that it had happened in Scotland. * 1.1 THE INCIDENT I came into this … Continue reading I was there!

General, Historical, Old Edinburgh, RAF, Scotland, Wartime Memories, World War13 Comments

Guns Galore!

Johnny Jones - Nonagenarian Author

Wartime Memories No.1 Not long after the end of the Second World War, under the starlit sky of an early autumn morning, a chuffing, puffing old railway engine, enveloped in a cloud of steam, shunted a clanking train of open topped freight wagons into the railway siding just to the North of Bonnington Toll in Edinburgh. With the wagon’s brakes secured, the engine steamed off to get on with its next task, leaving the sidings deserted, eerily silent and hidden from view behind the high random rubble stone wall that borders Newhaven Road. Later, with the sun creeping over the … Continue reading Guns Galore!