Memories of the Clyebank blitz in World War Two

Thomas Andrews shares his childhood memories of the Clydebank Blitz of World War Two.

One of the memories I have from World War Two is when I was aged seven and had an older brother and sister. We were so innocent and loved it when the siren went off for an air raid as it meant we went into the shelter for tea and biscuits.

The drill at our house was that our upstairs neighbour Mr Porteous would lower his electric fire form his window, which was right above our front door and had a long cable on it, then my dad would run with it to the shelter to heat the place while mum got us ready. One particular night, there was heavy rain and just as the heater landed at our front door it went off with a bang and smoke came under the door and into the hall.

Dad shouted 'Gas, gas!' and told us to get down on the floor and get our gas masks on.

After a few minutes Mr Porteous knocked at the door to see what was keeping us. What a sight we must all have been, lying in the hall with our gas masks on. It took dad a long time to live that one down.

Our shelter was real cosy and us kids would be wrapped in blankets and told to go to sleep, which we never did. It was all an adventure. Little did we understand that the German bombers were flying right over us on their way to Glasgow and Clydebank.

My dad was in the Home Guard and one of the night Clydebank got hit he took us all out of the shelter to see the crimson sky as Clydebank burned. After one air raid, the rumour got about that a German parachute had come down in a field near us. Everybody was out looking for it as we were told it was made of silk.