A collection of 10 stories from my memory regarding World War 2.

I was born in Leith, Edinburgh in October 1934 and I thought while I am able, I should record some of my experiences and recollections of this time.

Wartime Memories Number 1 – Guns Galore is about my recollection as a young lad, of finding guns of all types in train wagons which had been stored by the authorities after the end of WW2.

With the sun creeping over the Eastern horizon, a group of local children, taking a short cut through the siding to get to school, noticed the new arrivals. With the inbred curiosity of youth and ever on the lookout for something to amuse them in these days of hardship, rationing and shortages of everything, the little foragers climbed up onto the trucks to see if they could find something to brighten up their day.

Imagine the youngsters’ astonishment when they discovered that the wagons were filled to the brim with an incredible assortment of slightly rusted personal weapons of war.

Wartime Memories Number 2 – I Was There In 1939 shortly after WW2 started, a German fighter plane was being chased by a British Spitfire, and one of the pilots fired bullets in my direction as I walked home from school. I attempt to piece together some interesting facts surrounding this chance encounter, namely: Some World War II firsts established during the raid:

The first aerial dogfight over Britain.

The first ‘kill’ attributed to a Spitfire over Britain.

The first German aircraft to enter British airspace.

The first Luftwaffe attack on the British Isles.

The first German aeroplane brought down on British soil.

The first Luftwaffe casualties.

The first British civilian casualty. (A steeplejack/painter in Portobello was wounded.)

Wartime Memories Number 3 – The First Raid on Mainland Britain in WW2

“At around 7.45pm on 18^th July 1940, a single enemy plane flew out of the early evening clouds, dropped a single bomb that sounded the death knell for the, up ‘till then, unscathed citizens of Leith.

The plane then went back up to altitude and circled, before releasing its remaining two 250 lb and six 50 lb bombs.”

That first bomb had exploded in the tenement building, at 8 George Street, Leith, (now North Fort Street), brought down the building, produced significant collateral damage and caused the death of seven innocent civilians.

From our window in rural Edinburgh, my Dad and I had just witnessed, the first bomb of the Second World War being dropped by Luftwaffe on the United Kingdom. A tragic event that caused the first civilian fatalities in mainland Britain’s of the Second World War.

Wartime Memories Number 4 – Rationing and the Merchant Navy concerns Rationing in Britain and this part explains how rationing came about, namely from the German U-Boat submarines destroying ships of the Merchant Navy who supplied Britain with food and goods, including fuel from North and South America.

Wartime Memories Number 5 – How Rationing came about The government, worried that food would become scarce and harder to buy, introduced a system of rationing, aimed at ensuring that everyone got their fair share of whatever essential foods were available.And, with everyone feeling the pinch, slogans like, “Pull in your belt and go without.” were heard regularly on the radio.

Wartime Memories Number 6 – My cousin James (Jimmy) Kelly aboard The Prince of Wales, a George V Battleship which was sunk off the coast of Malaya by Japanese aircraft.

Wartime Memories Number 7 – Continuing the story of James Kelly, the sinking of the battleship and his ending as a prisoner of war in Sumatra, aged 22.

Wartime Memories Number 8 – Scrap to Spitfire – Work in progress

Wartime Memories Number 9 – Make do and Mend – Work in progress

Wartime Memories Number 10 – Shelters and Entertainment – Work in progress