Kenny with his mother before going to a territorial camp often held at Carnoustie and Dundee

Kenneth MacLennan like so many of the young men in the area had been in the territorials before the war so they were the first to be called up when war broke out in 1939. At the time he was staying with his parents and brother Roddie at Arboll Farm near Inver. They were called up on the Friday and were picked up by bus on Tuesday and taken to Tain to catch the train. They were then billeted at Ferintosh distillery for two to three months before going first to England and then to France. Some of the locals who were with him in the Seaforths at the time were Jimmy Ross Inver, ’Bim’ Young, Tarrel, Douglas Scott and Willie Skinner Fearn, Jocky Duff, Balnaha, the Innes brothers from Arabella and Charlie Ross from Nigg. Kenny was with Charlie Ross when he was killed.

Three of Kenny’s brothers were called up as well. His brother Joe was allowed to go home after a short while because he worked on a farm and his employer needed him. His brother Don was in the transport company and was taken prisoner in Crete. Both he and his brother Bill were in the Seaforth Highlanders. Bill was wounded before St Valery and was sent back to Britain to recover only to be wounded again later in the war. Kenny was with the Seaforths as part of the 51st Highland division that was captured at St Valery.

As a soldier he accepted the inevitable and when General Fortune the head of command gave the command to surrender they knew there was no alternative because they trusted their officers. The soldiers were ordered to lay down their arms which Kenny did and he threw his weapon into a pile along with the other soldiers. Then they were herded together to be transported to the camps. During that time Kenny managed to scribble a note to tell his parents he was all right and passed it to a Frenchman at the side of the road. Amazingly the note found its way to Scotland and to his parents. At the time of the surrender the men were told about an exchange of prisoners but this never happened. Kenny felt this was an attempt to keep up the morale of the men.

Local press photos of the missing Maclennan brothers

Back home his family had heard of the St Valery surrender and pictures of the missing men appeared in the local press. It was an anxious time not knowing whether he was dead or alive. It was about August during harvest time that word came through that he was a Prisoner. When they finally heard he was a prisoner his brother Roddie remembers the relief it was to the family not only to hear he was alive but because they felt he would maybe be safer in the prison camp than fighting.

Once captured the soldiers walked to the Hook of Holland and then went down the Rhine on barges, coming out at Germany. They were then marched to the camp in Poland. Not all the Seaforths were in the same camp because there were so many of them they became separated. The only Seaforth he went through the whole war with was Jocky Duff, Balnaha, Geanies.

Roll call at a later camp

Kenny’s first reaction was to be glad the long journey was over at last. When they reached the camp they were questioned and given a number. The camps were made up of lots of huts surrounded by high wire fences, which were electrified. There was no heating in the huts and they slept in bunks.

They were given only two blankets and it was extremely cold in the winter. Their uniforms and boots were in rags and they were dressed in old Polish uniforms with three quarter trousers and clogs that did not fit well and were not very warm. Eventually the Red Cross supplied them with battle dress. For the first two years before Red Cross parcels arrived Kenny remembers being absolutely starving. There was one loaf of black bread per day between eight men. Someone would slice this as evenly as they could and then the men would draw cards. The highest could take the first slice and so on. Also to be fair when they were lined up to receive the one ladleful of soup, that went with the bread, if you were at the front of the line one day, you went to the back the next because the soup was always watery at the top and slightly thicker at the bottom.

Kenny's drawing of a prison camp