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Memories of the Second World War in Kirriemuiricon for Recommended story

by kirriemuir_library

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People in story: 
Murial Howie
Location of story: 
Kirriemuir in Angus
Background to story: 
Article ID: 
Contributed on: 
12 July 2004

Photograph of Bill Howie in Black Watch uniform tsaken at his mothers house in 3 Croft Terrace in 1942

Interview with Murial Howie wife of Jim Smith Northmuir Kirriemuir

I was quite young when the war started but can remember that we were moved out of our school in Websters Seminary to the South Parish Church hall. The hall was split in two with a temporary wall down the centre to accommodate two classes of approximately forty children.
Four children joined our class when they arrived in Kirriemuir and I can remember the names of three.Gwenlynn Edroft, Eva Speller and John Spender. At the end of the war two boys and two girls arrived at the school after their release from a Japanese prision camp,they were all very tall and and very thin but otherwise appeared in good health.
Kirriemuir was a very busy place during the war as a large number of children of all ages were moved into the town to escape the bombing in England.
My parents were asked to save money for the war effort and every month my mother gave me 2/6 (12.5p) which was a lot of money at that time. A lady from the Dundee Savings Bank visited the class to collect the money and it was used to buy war bonds which cost £1.5/- (£1.25 in present day currency) When enough money for a bond was collected a certificate was put into your bank book.
Sweets were very scarce but it was possible to buy ice cream from Harry Clynes shop in the Glengate. No cones or wafers were available and your ice cream was sold in a paper cup but it tasted just as good.
My family were members of the South Parish Church and I was in the Sunday School. The Herd family were members of the church and immigrated to Hiwaii. During the war they sent over parcels of sweets to the church to be handed out to the Sunday School kids and they were greatly enjoyed by all concerened.
One of our neighbours arrived home on leave from the army with a parachute. It was cut up into parts large enough to make a dress then handed out to the mothers who dyed the cloth various colours and had them made up into dresses.
My mother had the material dyed bright yellow and made into a dress which was worn a few times but I did not like it because of the seams every few inches joining the material together.
My father was in the Black Watch during the war and we did not see him very often but he was invalided out of the army in 1944 with a leg injury.
In 1943 we stayed at Knowehead Cresent with my mother and brother Bill and when out playing with a friend we heard a plane flying over Kirriemuir very low ,the engine was making a strange noise and it headed across towards the Gairie Factory then there was a loud bang and we saw smoke.
We heard later that the plane's wing had hit the factory chimney and crashed in a field near Denmill Farm. My mother took us to visit the crash site and we could see the engine and propeller in a corner of the field and a lot of debris where the plane had hit the ground. There were a lot of Kirriemuir folk visiting the crash site when we were there.
Two German priisoners worked on a local farm called Little Herd Hill. They had a number of large coloured patches sewn on their clothes. They did not return to Germany after the war but continued to live in Kirriemuir

Mr Lyndsay Grewar


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