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AN AMERICAN FRIEND I met Americans. Roller skating in Glasgow, I nearly
tripped and an American caught me before I fell, and we got
talking. He was with the U.S. Eighth Army Air Force, and flew
bombers over to Scotland. He asked for my address, but thought I
would never see him again. His name was Johnny Nard, from Indiana.
A short time went by and I was at the theatre one night when all
at once my name came up on the screen to tell there was a message
for me at the entrance. I could not believe it but there stood
Johnny. When he came back to see me again, he gave me his wings, a
lovely necklace, and a bracelet. I went back with him on the bus
to Prestwick Airfield. That was the last time I saw him.
ANGER FROM THE SKIES
My home town was fairly safe, but Clydebank was only ten miles
from us, and got bombed because of the ship building. We could hear
the enemy planes overhead, and the ack ack guns, and see the search
lights. Shrapnel would be falling all around. We were in danger if
the pilot was headed home and let go the rest of his bombs. I
remember one night the sirens went on and on all night;
we all knelt and prayed.
In
1941 when I was fifteen years old I joined Girls In Training,
which was just like Cadets. We did drill, and I took training on
combustion engines and learned to change tires on trucks, and so on.
I did volunteer work two hours a week looking after children whose
mothers were working in ammunition factories. Then I joined the ARP
(Air Raid Precautions). I was a messenger with a bicycle and had to
deliver messages between stations when necessary. The town hall had
a secret way to get in.
We had a team and taught groups how to put out incendiary bombs. We
were taught about mustard gas and what it did to the lungs. The
pictures we were shown were terrible. We had to look on the roads
for signs of gas, especially if it rained. On water it was a purple
rainbow colour. We had to go into a gas chamber to test our gas
masks. I worked at the canteen making tea, and talking to the
soldiers .
MET AT A DANCE
Time passed and now I was seventeen years old. We went to lot of
dances, and there were plenty of men to dance with. One night I went
to a dance and was at the door of the dance hall, or a short
distance from where I lived, changing my shoes. I always took dance
shoes, and I had tip-toed all the way to the dance hall as I had
painted my legs with makeup and did not want to splash them as it
was raining. A Canadian came in to door and said to me, "Hi there
'Dimples!', I will have a dance with you later." I thought he is so
good looking he will never ask me for a dance, but he did and could
he dance! He was with The Edmonton Regiment which had just moved in
to Hamilton and was bunked at the stables at the Hamilton Race
Course along with the Patricias and the Seaforth Highlanders. Little
did we know these moves were part of the start of the Allies winning
the war, for this group of soldiers were on their way to the Italian
front. And Hamilton went wild. The soldiers had been in England for
three years. They had missed the Dieppe tragedy, but some of the
British fellows I had met earlier never came back from that raid, as
was the case with so many Canadians.
The Canadian who had called me "Dimples" eventually became my
husband, Jimmy Todd. That night at the dance he asked to take me
home. I knew he had been drinking, and I said, "I don't go with
fellows who have been drinking." I did not think I would ever see
him again, but lo and behold, my sister was at the next dance and he
was there. I did not go, so he asked about me and my sister brought
him to the house. He stood shouting up at the window, '"Dimples'
come on down and I will buy you fish and chips." I went down. He did
not have money to buy fish and chips and borrowed from his buddy.
He told me after he could not remember what I looked like, so when
he came looking for me, he had a small bottle in his back pocket,
and if I did not look like he thought I did he would get drunk
again. From then on we went out to pictures, and dancing together,
and he would come back to the house. I fell head over heals for him,
and he for me. Jimmy used to turn the clock back on our mantle
piece, as my Mum was always calling out, "Jane it's time Jimmy went
home." Most of the fellows had got married in England, for they were
there for three years; very few of the Loyal Edmonton soldiers
married Scottish girls.
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
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