Charlotte: Hello and thank you for coming to Loirston to tell us your wartime memories.

Michael S: How old were you at the start of World War II?

Mrs Cruden: Well I was actually born three weeks after the war began. The war started on the 3rd of September and I was born on the 24th of September.

Michael S: Do you remember how you felt when you were going to be evacuated?

Mrs Cruden: Well, I was about a year old when we were actually evacuated but it was voluntary. What happened was a bomb landed beside the barracks. I lived beside the Bridge of Don barracks and there was a bomb landed there, and it struck some of the living quarters and they asked for volunteers. When the bomb landed, some of the debris landed in our garden. My Mum was a bit upset because she took us... There used to be shelters for when you were bombed and you could go into these shelters - they were under the ground. We went, the whole family went down there, and there was no-one else there, the neighbours weren't there so we decided we didn't want to stay. So we tried to climb back upstairs again and up into the garden again. When we went down the garden was clear, but when we came back up again, the garden was filled with debris - barbed wire, rocks, everything. And my Mother tripped over the barbed wire and dropped me and I was only about a year old and she dropped me and she was searching for me and couldn't find me, 'cause it was black, there was no lights. You weren't allowed to burn lights for attracting attention of the planes and she dropped me and she was looking for me. Eventually she got back into the house to find that I was already there. I was still just, I was just crawling but I'd got up there before she did. But that's when they came and asked for volunteers, for us to give them our houses for their officers and my Mother said, "Yes, please." And we were shifted to a farm out in the countryside, just not far from Aberdeen, but it was far enough away from the bombs.

Charlotte: How did you get to the countryside?

Mrs Cruden: By bus. Just by bus. I think it was - it must have been an army bus or something - some kind of bus that took us.

Michael S: How did you like your new surroundings?

Mrs Cruden: Well, it was the countryside - it was great, it was super.

Michael S: How long did you stay away from home?

Mrs Cruden: About eh, it must have been about four or five months. Just until they got the quarters fixed up, the bomb destroyed and flattened these houses and it was just until they were sorted up.

Charlotte: How were you treated as an evacuee?

Mrs Cruden: Just as part of the family. The thing I remember about it is seeing the cows. I'd never seen a cow in my life before. Of course I was only a baby, but I'd never seen a cow. I'd been about a year old, I think, when we went there and the little calves who were born - you could put your hand into their mouths and they would suck your hand; suck your hand, and it would go right up to your elbow and it was a bit of a fight to get your hand back. That's what I mainly remember, is that kind of thing.

Michael S: Did you go to school when you were evacuated?

Mrs Cruden: No, I was too young. I think it was actually in the summertime. There wasn't much school during the war. I think there was just half days; there wasn't much school, even for bigger children. They just had half days.

Charlotte: Were you scared or homesick?

Mrs Cruden: No. I didn't have any opinions. I was too young to have an opinion.

Michael S: Did you have to share a room with anyone?

Mrs Cruden: I think there was my Mum, my brother, my sister, me, and one of my other sisters, and we all lived in the one room - I mean slept in the one room. As far as living quarters, we just shared the rest of the house.