She was a Fire Warden in the Sunnnybank area. Her uniform was a tin hat, blue trousers and stirrup pump.

In June 1940 Aberdeen ice rink was bombed.

Her home at 58 Bedford Road, Aberdeen was bombed April 1943 and neighbours were killed.

Her house was in ruins and the rest crumbling but her father refused to let them move in case their furniture was stolen.

Iris Middleton

When she went to school she had to carry a gas mask in case there was a raid.

The air raid siren often went off in the middle of the night and her mum had to get the whole family into the cold Anderson shelter.

The children wore combinations and siren suits. The “all in ones” made it easier to get dressed quickly.

She remembers trying to get a pram and a doll out of the rubble, when a man shouted at her. Being so young, she didn’t realise that the owner had probably died in the air raid.

There were big cement blocks at the beach and soldiers would hide behind them with guns.

At the beginning of the war, she was in service in Kinnaird then she became a civilian in the RAF, working in the Naffie.

She was moved to Scone where the pilots were trained. She worked in the Officer’s Mess, where there was always plenty of food. Work was hard and the hours were long and when the men were on training manoeuvres, she made jam and bread fritters for them.

She remembers being reprimanded by the CO for taking a flight in a Tiger Moth.

See Isobel Smith's war memorabilia

Harry Mutch

He was called up to the Navy in 1941 as a cook and trained at an ex Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Skegness. While based in Aberdeen, he went home instead of staying at The Station Hotel. As punishment, his station card was stamped Foreign Service (F/S) and he was posted to minesweeping duty in the Adriatic.

He went to a rest camp in the Italian mountains where:

“You knew for certain you were going to be alive in the morning when you went to sleep at night”

Tito allowed the sailors no shore leave in Yugoslavia. The punishment was to wash with salt water soap for 21 days. Horrible!!!!

See Harry Mutch's war memorabilia:
Part 1 / Part 2

See an interview with Harry Mutch

She lived at 54, Bedford Road, Aberdeen.

She attended Old Aberdeen School and Sunnybank School in Aberdeen.

At the outbreak of the war, pupils sheltered under desks during a raid. There was an Air Raid Siren and anti aircraft (ac-ac) guns on the top of the school.

Her home, Kittybrewster Station and Causewayend Church were bombed on the 21st April 1943. Her family was temporarily housed in Powis School Gym.

Henry Thomson

He worked as a farmer at Leys farm, Auchmacoy, Aberdeenshire during the war. He had a reserved occupation.

He served in the Home Guard where he reached the rank of lance corporal. He recalls “battle drill” training around Turriff, King Edward, Ardoe and Banff and being trained by old soldiers. They did shooting practice at Newburgh Links.

Collieston Home Guard biked around the area every night.

He had two older brothers in the army. They both died during the war.

She was 15 when war broke out and remembers people being stopped by the police if they didn’t carry ID cards and gas masks. She joined the Girls Training Corps (GTC), at Ellon School, where she learnt first aid.

She lived on her father’s farm and remembers having German and Italian POWs. One Italian, was a former police sergeant and her father gave him land to grow crops, which he sold to the POW camp at New Deer. She didn’t trust another Italian POW who she thought was a devious Fascist. The German POW was super and stayed in this country after the war and used to visit her father when he was still alive. Of the war he said “he was only doing his duty.”

Her mum made butter and cheese from milk. At harvest time they got extra sugar for the POWs “fly cups”

People living in the country only got tokens for furniture and clothes – but got nothing for food.