Ann Remembers
As an Officer in the Black Watch my brother had to wear a kilt
By Camilla Bergman
I lived in Aberdeen at the time of the war, nothing exciting happened to me. We had the bombs falling, we had the ship yards bombed, we had the tail end of the bombs when the (German) planes came from the Glasgow area, and dropped off their bombs to lighten their planes on their way home. A bomb dropped two streets from us, the houses were so badly built that the bomb just split the houses in two.
I had four brothers in the forces, two of them were at Dunkirk, one of them was in the Gordon Highlanders and the other was in the Black Watch. They were dug in at Dunkirk, the one in the Black Watch was an Officer and he heard that the Gordon Highlanders were dug in, so he decided to look for his brother. As an Officer of the Black Watch he had to wear a kilt, which were very heavy. So he’s looking for his brother when one of the soldiers in the Gordon Highlanders says “who is this silly b-*-s-t-a-*-d walking about here in a kilt?” and my other brother replies “you better watch yourself that’s my brother your speaking about!” Later he asks my brother why he is wearing a kilt, who responds “That’s my dress uniform and I’m a proper Scotsman. I’m not paying for a new dress uniform, besides it’s easier to wear.” Later on that same brother stood on a mine which broke fifteen bones and one leg, but he survived until he was ninety!