SCOUTS AND THE WAR
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Introduction
One of the remarkable things about the Troop records from 1939-1945 is how little the war is mentioned. Even when it is mentioned, it is almost as a passing remark. Nevertheless, these entries do indicate the impact of the war on the routine of the Troop. Naturally, the biggest impact on the group was the resignation of long established Leaders and older Scouts as a result of war duties, but this is described elsewhere. Here we concentrate on other events.
1. The Blackout
The first troop meeting after the declaration of war on 3rd September was on the 6th October 1939. By that time, black out regulations had been established. Indeed, the first blackout was on Friday 8th September, and it generated a feeling of doom and uncertainty about the future. Each property owner had to ensure that no light showed from their windows or doors that might guide enemy bombers to their targets. This was taken very seriously since the River Clyde with all its shipping and shipbuilding facilities was considered a prime target. Presumably, house owners were reasonably quick to abide by these regulations, not least because one could be taken to court and fined £1 if light was visible from your property. However, the blacking out of public buildings, such as churches and community halls, must have lagged behind. Certainly, the windows of the church hall and adjoining rooms had not been blacked out on the 6th October. Therefore, it was decided beforehand that meetings would start at 6 pm, not only to avoid the blackout, but to save on electricity.
Figure 1 Blackout poster from World War II,
Presumably, the leaders asked the PLs to spread the word round the rest of the Scouts at school, but clearly the message did not get through, since most of the Scouts turned up at the usual 7.30 pm. As a result, the meeting was cancelled and a COH was held at Ian Dunlop's house to discuss the blackout and what the troop would do for the war effort. The decision to start Troop meetings at 6 pm was upheld, but ultimately, this had to be abandoned since it was difficult for both Leaders and Scouts alike to make it on time. The start time was altered to 6.30 pm at the start of November, then was altered again to 6.45 pm at the start of December. It remained fixed at that time, certainly as far as 1943 when the Troop log stopped.
Despite the earlier start time, the church's windows still needed to be blacked out. Initially, the Troop put curtains over the windows of the church hall, but this was probably a temporary solution as the church paid a Greenock firm to black out all the windows. There were still occasional problems, and at the end of a troop meeting in September 1940, two policemen appeared to complain about the black-out efficiency of the hall. The Court of Honour (COH) minutes revealed that 'the Troop had twice been brought into none too pleasant contact with the Police over this point already'. The Church eventually sorted the problem out, but the Scouts themselves blacked out the church boiler room (the Dunny), where they were storing waste paper and camping equipment.
Because of the blackout, Scouts had to get to and from troop meetings in total darkness during the winter months, which raised problems of safety. Therefore, at the beginning of October 1940, the COH decided that all members of the Troop aged 13 or under should be escorted by older Scouts. This initially involved being escorted home at the end of meetings, but as the daylight hours shortened, younger Scouts were also escorted to troop meetings. George Brown recalled being escorted from Scouts to the foot of Margaret Street by Victor Clark as well as by Ian Curtis (Fig. 2) The escorting of Scouts came to be called the 'convoy system' in keeping with the war.
Figure 2 George Brown, Victor Clark and Ian Curtis - the convoy system
Black out regulations were eventually relaxed in September 1944, when it was deemed that ordinary curtains would be sufficient. Cycle lights were allowed again, and car headlights were allowed to use diffuse lighting. This involved putting a layer of tissue paper or equivalent over the lights. Street lighting also came back and this caused quite a sensation amongst many children who had forgotten what the lights were like. Many went down to the Esplanade to marvel at the lights across the river.
2. Air Raid Warnings and Air Raid Shelters
Although Greenock received far fewer air raids than London, ithere were two nights of heavy bombing during the 6th-7th May 1941. It might not sound like much but it has to be remembered that nobody knew when or how frequently Greenock would be targeted. Therefore, air raids sounded whenever bombers were detected, whether they bombed Greenock or not. Moreover, the enemy often sent reconnaissance planes over the area which led to air raid warnings.
When an air raid siren sounded, residents in the West end of Greenock were expected to stay at their addresses and take cover in Anderson shelters dug in the garden, or Morrison shelters constructed in the house. Although there were public shelters in the area, these were intended only for people who had been 'caught out' in the open and could not get home. A series of shelters was constructed at various parts of the town including the area where the current Tescos building now stands. Shelters were also built along the Esplanade and these gained a reputation as being unofficial toilets! Some shelters that were built with brick walls and concrete roofs were no better than deathtraps. If there was a blast close by, the brick walls would be blown down and the occupants would be crushed by the concrete roof falling down on them.
Figure 3 An Anderston shelter and the remains of a public air raids shelter with brick walls and concrete roof.
The nearest shelter to Finnart Church was built in the middle of Madeira Street, just downhill from Newark Street, and so it was within reasonable walking distance. Robin MacDougall remembered it being a concrete construction with baffle doors, which was big enough to hold the troop plus a few others. There were no lights inside and so you needed to take your own light. He also recalled that most sirens were practices, false alarms or related to raids that ended up bombing other parts of the country. On some occasions, the troop would dutifully proceed to the public shelter, while at other times, they just carried on with the meeting and ignored the sirens!
The first time that a siren sounded during a troop meeting was on the 1st November 1940 when 14 Scouts and 1 Scout Master were present. The boys who lived close by returned home immediately, while the rest 'marched down' to the ARP shelter, where the meeting continued with games. The conditions were not luxurious, but everyone kept their spirits high by singing songs to the light of a bicycle lamp. No bombs appared to be dropped that night, and the All Clear was sounded after an hour. The Scouts then marched back up the road to the hall where they were dismissed. A Court of Honour was held afterwards to discuss what should be done if air raid alarms sounded in the future, with Troop Leader Harold Hastie laying down the law.
However, all such procedures were ignored when the siren next sounded at a troop meeting on the 20th December 1940. On that occasion, 19 Scouts were enjoying their annual Christmas party and nothing, not even Hitler, was going to spoil that occasion. The siren was duly ignored and the party carried on, although some of the older boys went outside to do some roof spotting (see section .....). There were another two occasions on the 10th January and 14th March 1941 when air raid sirens sounded, but these were at the end of troop meetings, and so most of the Scouts made their own way home immediately. The Greenock Blitz of the 6th and 7th May 1941 did not coincide with any troop meetings, but it probably made the troop take air raid warnings a bit more seriously than they had done up till that point.
According to the Greenock Telegraph, Greenock sirens sounded 34 times in earnest between December 1939 and June 1941, and then only once after that by mistake. However, people may have gone to the shelters more often than that since sirens sounding in Helensburgh were often mistaken for Greenock sirens. The first siren was sounded on 29th November 1939 at 1.16 pm in torrential rain, but it was a false alarm. Nevertheless, it was good practice for the wardens who stopped buses and cars and directed people to shelters. Sirens were located at the Ladyburn bus depot, James Watt Dock, Dellingburn Electricity works, the Coop premises in Roxburgh Street, Greenock prison, Glebe refinery, Forsyth Street and the torpedo factory. After the all clear was sounded, wardens went round ringing handbells. The first actual bombing took place on the 13th July 1940 with an attack by a lone raider. This was followed by another lone raider drpping bombs on Inverkip during August 1940. On the 16th October 1940, Port Glasgow was bombed by several bombs, then on the 24th October, bombs were dropped on Cardwell Road in the early hours of the morning. Another attack took place a couple of night later with the dropping of parachute bombs. There was a bit of an alarm on the 20th November 1940 when there was a loud explosion from the direction of the river without any warning sirens. In fact, this was an RAF balloon which blew up opposite 38 Esplanade. The balloon was being lowered but was pierced by a gas streetlight which happened to be on at the time. Sirens certainly sounded in Greenock when the heavy raids took place on Clydebank and Glasgow during the nights of the 13th and 14th March 1941, with the German bombers flying overhead en route to their targets. This was a heavy raid with 3,562 high explosive bombs and 232 parachute bombs being dropped. On the night of the 7th/8th April 1941, a parachute bomb was dropped at Ravenscraig, then on the night of the 15/16th April 1941, bombs were dropped in the hills behind Gourock by a plane which had probably been damaged by an AA battery. The Greenock Blitz then took place on the nights of the 5/6th and 6/7th of May 1941, resulting in about 300 fatalities and 25 major fires (Figs. 4 and 5). A large percentage of Greenock houses were damaged - 8000 out of 18000 houses. A letter to the Greenock Telegraph following this article stated that there was another raid on the 24/25th March 1943.
Figure 4 Bomb damage in Baxter Street and Belville Street following the Greenock blitz of 5th-7th March.
Figure 5 Bombs dropped during the Greenock blitz of 5th-7th March.
3. Waste paper and other collections
Following the outbreak of war, the 70th Court of Honour decided that the best way that the Scouts could help the war effort was to collect waste paper and sphagnum moss. It was also stated that this would be an excellent opportunity to get badges, so no change there! Many readers might be puzzled at the collection of sphagnum moss, and may not even know what it is. Sphagnum moss is plentiful in the boggy ground of the Renfrewshire Moors and was collected during the First World War and during the years leading up to the Second World War. The moss is extremely absorbent and holds a lot of water. Moreover, it contains a natural antiseptic. By squeezing out the water, one is left with a natural sterile wound dressing which can absorb blood and pus. The moss can vary in colour from green to red, and the redder the colour the more antiseptic
Figure 6 Scouts collecting sphagnum moss somehwre in the UK (obtained from the web site heritage.scouts.org. uk
is present. Such dressings were extremely useful in field hospitals to supplement normal bandages and dressings. There is no record of 70th Scouts collecting this during the Second World War, but moss was certainly collected by the District's Wolf Cub Leaders. The Greenock Women's Enterprise Association took on the responsibility of preparing and packing it from June 1940 at the request of the Red Cross and the WVS. Many of these dressings were sent to London, as well as being used by local hospitals and dressing stations.
Figure 7 Scouts collecting waste paper somewhere in the UK (obtained from the web site heritage.scouts.org. uk)
The 70th troop decided to focus on collecting waste paper, probably because the District itself was coordinating waste paper collections and there may well have been a national inititative on the part of the Scout Association (Fig. 7). ASM Eoin Steel started the ball rolling by meeting Mr. Taylor, Rector of Greenock Academy, to make arrangements for the collection of waste paper from the school - a role that passed to Dick Leggatt a month later. Some Scouts acted on their own initiative. For example, on the 3rd November 1939, Robin and Neil MacDougall took a 'bogey' and went round houses to collect waste paper. Considering they had only just joined the troop the previous Friday, this was mighty impressive, and it prompted the COH to organise a rota of wastepaper collection. The following week, PL Jim Crawford organising parties of Scouts to collect paper between 3-5 pm on weekdays, twice a week if possible. Some of these collections are described in the troop log. For example, on
the 11th November, paper was collected from Mr. Denholm's house in Octavia Terrace, and from houses in Finnart Street that were west of Madeira Street. During the week 18th Nov - 24th Nov, paper was collected from houses within the area contained by Eldon, Madeira, Newark and Bentinck Streets, plus new houses opposite St Pauls Church. There were also collections from individual houses, and the author is pleased to see that his grandparents were amongst those contributing!
There were three difficulties associated with paper collections. First, the paper collected had to be sorted out and bundled up; this was done by the Scouts and Leaders themselves and became a regular task at troop nights over the next few months. Second, the paper had to be stored until it could be taken to the necessary authorities; the troop had already gained permission to convert the church cellars as a storage space for camping equipment and so they would serve equally well for storing paper. By the start of December, the cellars were ready to receive both camping equipment and paper collections. Third, paper is heavy, and carrying it manually from houses was hard work and inefficient. Transpirt was needed.
The transport problem was solved by purchasing a trek cart - a common form of transport used by Scout troops to haul heavy camping equipment before the era of affordable private transport. However, a trek cart cost £12-10 (about £300 today). Bearing in mind that the Troop's bank balance varied between 10/- and £5 over 1939, the Scouts had to raise the equivalent of 2 years income within a matter of days if they were to maintain their paper collections. Wilson Hill's father quickly raised £9, presumably by approaching people for donations. Wilson Hill and a deputation of Scouts also made a visit to a Mr. Wingate to see if the church could help. It is not known who Mr. Wingate was, but he must have had a leading role in Finnart Church, because he agreed to make an appeal to the congregation for the remaining money. This proved successful and the full cost was raised by November. The COH minutes made a point of acknowledging the donors so it seems right to acknowledge them here - Mr. R. A. Alston (£2); Mr. M. Hill (£2); Mr. R. D. Cairns (£1); Mr. W. Steel (£1); Mrs. M. Lang (£1); Mr. A. S. Rodgers? (£1); Mr. W. A. Hill (£1); Mr. David Paterson (£1); Miss Henderson (£1); Miss MacDougall (10/-) and Mrs. Daniels (2/6). The trek cart duly arrived during the troop's Christmas party on the 15th December 1939 (Fig. 8) and was quickly hauled into action. To begin with, the troop needed somewhere to store such a valuable piece of equipment, and it is reported that it was kept under cover when not in use at 'Scott's Garages adjacent to the whole'. It is not certain whether there was an actual garage of this name. More likely, the garages referred to belonged to the Scott family who owned the large mansion (Balclutha) on the other side of Madeira Street from the church (Fig. 9).
Figure 8 The newly purchased Trek Cart desplayed outside Finnart Church
(Dennis Woodward, Ian Dunlop, Ian Munro, Ronald McKay, Nicol Smith, Sandy Campbell, Jim Crawford, Harold Hastie).
Figure 9 Balclutha house owned by the Scott family
With Trek Cart in tow, the Scouts made collections on the 16th December 1939, and for a full week during the Christmas Holidays covering Newton St., Finnart St., Union St. (as far as the playing fields), Wood St., Octavia Terrace (as far as the end of the playing fields); Bentinck St., Eldon St. (as far as the end of the playing fields), The Esplanade; Fort Matilda Place, Kincaid Street and Newark St.. In addition collections were made from individual houses on request outside the local district, Harland and Wolf's, Thos. Boags and the Craigs.
Robin McDougall recalled that there was a lot of enthusiasm and commitment at the time because everyone involved believed that they were helping to defeat Hitler. As a result, massive amounts of paper were collected. Silver paper was also accepted, which was carefully folded and stored. Robin had no idea whether the collections contributed much in the practical sense, but that really was not the point. The important thing was that everyone felt that they were doing something positive and so it was good for morale and unity. Having seen all the 'big boys' go to war, the younger Scouts were desperate to contribute something to the war. Robin also recalled collecting paper with his brother from
Balclutha, which stood on the grounds where Greenock Academy (1964-2011) used to be. Collecting paper from the mansion during the black out was always an eerie experience, heightened by the fact that the sound of the doorbell echoed into the depths of the house. On one occasion, when they had just rung the bell, the cloud parted to expose a full moon. Moonlight lit up the bay window next to them, and revealed a dark and sinister figure sitting on a horse as if ready to smash through the window and charge at them! The McDougall brothers got the shock of their lives and were about to turn tail when they realised what they were really looking at. The Scott family had an impressive collection of armour and this was just one example of it - an armoured knight astride an armoured horse. Apparently, this horse and rider are now on display in a Glasgow museum.
Figure 10 Example of armoured horse and knight.
At the beginning of January 1940, the Scouts took the trek cart for a 'wander' to display it to everyone who had contributed towards its cost, and to thank them in person. Waste paper collections then continued throughout the next few months on a regular basis. By the 3rd February, the church cellars were overflowing and Eoin Steel's father provided a lorry to transport it to a central depot. Even so, there was not enough room in the lorry to transport it all in one trip. At this stage, another problem began to arise. Occasionally, the troop was given more than just wastepaper during their collections, and a stink developed in the cellars which must have spread into the church itself, for in February 1940, the church authorities asked the Scouts to remove all the waste paper from the cellar and to clean it out. A decision was then made to only collect paper on request - possibly to try and cut down the amount of other rubbish being handed over.
Despite, Robin's doubts over the practical benefits of collecting waste paper, there were in fact significant benefits. The paper was recycled, thus reducing the amount of paper that had to be imported by the merchant navy crossing the dangerous waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It was also claimed that recycled paper could be used to make containers for distress rockets , flare parachutes, charts for lifeboats, food wrappings in a lifeboat's emergency supplies, engine gaskets and insulation in ships radios. Finally, there was a payment made for all the waste paper collected by Greenock District, which went to District Scout HQ. Two thirds ot the money was used to benefit local Scouting and the remainder was gifted to the Red Cross.
Waste paper collections were also carried out by Scouts in other Scout Groups, and there was a regular rota of troops who helped out at the central waste paper collection depot in High Street on Saturdays in order to make paper bails with a bailing machine. The District was also meant to organise lorries to collect the paper from the various groups. However, this service had a reputation for being unreliable and on one occaion in March 1940, Wilson Hill waited at the church all afternoon for a lorry which failed to arrive. Once again, Donald Steel's lorry had to be hired for the purpose. A huge amount of effort clearly went into the work and there is evidence that this was part of a nationwide effort initiated by the Boy Scout Association. However, on the 1st November 1940, the District decided that it would cease collecting waste paper, and on the 7th February 1941, Harold Hastie stated that 'the waste paper scheme had fallen through due to its almost interminable nature.' He also went on to say that it had been very useful and interesting to start with, and perhaps a magazine 'scheme' might be started which would 'circumvent the difficulties'. It was not stated what these difficulties were, and there is no further reference to paper collections. Clearly, the initial enthusiasm of the Scouts was wearing thin after a year's hard work. Collecting the paper was one thing but it must have been tiresome sorting it out, tying it up, storing it, moving it to the depot, and cleaning out the cellars etc. Nevertheless, collections resumed in 1942 with a more efficient modus operandi involving various voluntary organisations and the Corporation. The latter provided lorries which followed the volunteers round the streets as they collected the paper. This did away for the need to sort or store paper, since the lorries carried it directly to the corporation depot in Waverley Lane. For example, the Greenock Telegraph reported that waste paper was collected throughout the first 6 months of 1942, with the involvement of schools, BB, Boy Scouts, and Civil Defence, while local businesses volunteered vans and drivers. This was clearly a coordinated approach with different organisations 'on duty' at different times. When the Scouts were involved, there was a rivalry between the Troops, with each Troop striving to see who could collect the most. On the 7th and the 21st February, there was an all out effort by District Scouts who met at 2pm at the foot of South Street, then scoured the streets accompanied by collection vans with loudspeakers urging people to donate their paper. It was felt that the amount collected was only limited by the number of collection vans available.
As a result of this improved efficiency, 200 tons of paper were collected over the first three months of 1942 as opposed to 83 tons for the first three months of the previous year. By November, 778 tons of paper had been collected compared to 314 tons in 1941. Books were also collected and it was noted that many individuals donated new books, certificates and items that they must have valued quite highly. There was also a campaign to 'Save paper by saving words', where people were encouraged to use small words and to be as concise as possible.
Figure 11 Collecting scrap metal - somewhere in the UK (from the heritiage.scouts.org.uk website).
Salvage collections continued throughout the war and there were specified weeks where special efforts were made with great publicity. As well as paper, collections were made for bones, rags, metal and rubber. Rags could be used to make haversacks, surgical equipment, blankets, maps, and wipers for aero engines, . A collection of scrap metal organised by the ARP took place as early as June 1940 which involved Scout volunteers (Fig. 11). Many of the town's iron railings were collected, with the churches donating 60 tons. However, railings round bowling greens were exempt due to the cost of the greens themselves and the need to protect them.
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4 Dig for Victory
The Dig for Victory campaign (Fig. 11) was an important way in which ordinary civilians could do their bit for the war effort by growing vegetables on whatever land was available. The more crops that were home grown, the less would need to be imported, thus freeing up merchant ships to carry essential war supplies. Troop Log and COH records make no mention of any specific projects carried out by the Troop, but undoubtedly individual Scouts did their bit. For example, at the start of the war, the Greenock Academy garden was dug up in order to grow vegetables. George Brown and Jack Davies of the 70th Scouts maintained one of the plots there.
Figure 11 Scouts planting vegetables in hospital grounds (location unknown). From heeitage.scouts. org. uk web site
5. Shelter Construction
During the war, families built Anderson shelters in their gardens or Morrison shelters inside their house, but not all households were capable of carrying out this task. The District Scouts volunteered to construct Morrison shelters for households where there were only women or elderly people present (Fig. 12). In October 1941, Scouts from the 70th troop built Morrison shelters for two households - Fraser of 30 Forsyth St., and McKelvie of 14 Denholm St. There may have been other occasions when the Scouts carried out this task, but they have not been recorded. A letter of appreciation was sent to Greenock Scouts at the start of 1942 for their efforts in shelter construction. At the end of the war in the summer of 1945, the Scouts helped the corporation to dismantle steel air raid shelters
Figure 12 Scouts building a Morrison Shelter somewhere in the UK (from the heritage.Scouts.org.uk website.
6 The Greenock Blitz and the role of Finnart Church and the 70th
Figure 13 Blitz damage to the Westburn Sugar Refinery
The Greenock Blitz took place on the 6th and 7th May 1941, when hundreds of Nazi planes bombed the town. On the first night, fire bombs and high explosives were dropped at a time when the air defences were not as good as they could have been. The raid on the following night was expected since the Germans tended to bomb the same place two nights running. This was a far more savage attack, which started just before midnight and lasted several hours. Incendiaries and high explosives rained down and the distillery in Baker Street was hit resulting in burning alcohol flowing down the streets and providing a target beacon for further bombers. The Westburn Sugar refinery was also hit (Fig. 13), as was the municipal buildings and the Mid Kirk, which was gutted apart from a Victory window from the last war.
Other important buildings to be destroyed or severely damaged were the Mechanics Institute, St. Lawrence's RC church, and Cartsburn school. The Civil Defence units did a fine job that evening rescuing and taking people to rest shelters. When daylight broke on the 7th, there was a pall of smoke over the town and the fires still burned.
Finnart Church hall had been designated as a 'rest centre' in the event of a raid, and so there was no troop meeting on Friday 9th May. Instead, members of the Troop helped out at the rest centre, but it is not clear what they did and who was involved. Emergency editions of the Greenock Telegraph printed on the 6th and 7th May mentioned that several boys and girls were involved as messengers both during and after the blitz. Several Scouts were involved in this, including George Brown.
7 Air Raid Exercises
A lot of tough lessons were learnt from the Greenock Blitz of 1941, and improvements made to various operating procedures should another Blitz materialise. These were tested with a large scale air-raid exercise held on the second weekend of March 1942, which was made as realistic as possible with planes pretending to bomb and strafe the town. Twenty seven fire engines from Greenock, Paisley and Adrossan were involved and the National Fire Service (NFS) was responsible for coordinating them all. During the exercise, they had to deal with 57 'fires', 3 of which were actual fires. There were four major fire exercises, involving different industries in the town and it was assumed that the raid had knocked out water supplies in some areas, requiring water to be pumped from the river. Even the navy was involved. One of the most interesting spectacles was the 'rescue' of fire watchers from the roof of the Sheriff Court buildings in Nelson Street with the aid of a turntable ladder. Tear gas was also released on three occasions. The area covered for the exercise stretched from the Battery Park to Boundary Road. The ARP ran operations from their control room while Greenock Academy served as the administration centre for the rest centres. Greenock Scouts were used as casualties and were asked to report to George Square at 2 pm. It is not recorded whether 70th Scouts participated, but it would be surprising if they did not since 100 Scouts volunteered from the District. Other smaller exercises occurred at various times during the war. For example, in February 1942, a number of Scouts took part as messengers in a 'mock air raid' exercise for the local ARP, and as late as February 1945, Scouts acted as casualties at an ARP first aid lecture. Scouts also acted as casualties in April 1945 for an ‘Appeal for Greek children’ held at Cappielow.
8 Scouts as Messengers
The Scouts were often asked by other organisations to volunteer as messengers. At the outbreak of war, the District set up a National Service Messenger Corps involving Scouts aged over 15, but it is not known how this developed. In January 1943, Greenock Scouts were asked to volunteer as National Fire Service (NFS) messengers. Several members of the Troop were taken to see an NFS film at the town hall and some of them are likely to have volunteered. The police also made a public appeal in January 1942 for volunteers aged 15-17.5 to act as night messengers for the Police auxiliary messenger service, while Air Raid Precautions (ARP) made a similar appeal for Scouts over the age of 15 to volunteer as ARP messengers. During the war, another request was made for Scouts with bicycles to act as 'parashot messengers' (2-4 boys per night) but it is not evident what this was about. In April 1943, the newly built civil defence HQ in Jamaica Street was looking for more boys aged 16-18 years old to volunteer as messengers, especially if they owned bikes. Such messengers were deemed essential should raids bring down telephone lines. An allowance of 2/6 per month was given to the boys and recreational facilities were provided when on duty. Duties were described as being of a 'pleasant and entertaining character'.
George Brown was one 70th Scout who served as a messenger boy and was one of many such boys on duty after the Greenock Blitz when all the phone lines were down. He remembered standing at Westburn Square deliberating whether to cycle down the road when someone behind him said, 'Son, don't go that way, just at the moment.' Seconds later a building collapsed into the street he was intending to go down.
9 Roof Watching
An appeal was made in the Greenock Telegraph Scout Notes for Scouts over the age of 16 to become involved in ARP duties, which involved checking whether black out regulations were being adhered to, as well as roof watching (Fig. 14). The latter task was a particularly hazardous one, as it meant standing out in the open to watch for falling bombs and spot any roof fires that might have been started by incendiaries. It is not known whether any 70th Scouts were involved, but it seems likely as some of the older Scouts were reported to be 'roof watching' during an air raid warning on the 20th December 1940.
10 Other Scouting Contributions
Figure 14 Scouts roof watching somewhere in the UK. From heritage.scouts. org. uk web site
As stated in the previous section, Scouts were often involved in acting as casualties for air raid practices, but they were also trained to deal with casualties. For example, in October 1939, a Mr. Mills gave a series of lectures on first aid to 70th Scouts by a Mr. Mills should they be faced with casualties. Later in the war, in January 1944, the District asked each troop to send a list of boys over the age of 13 who would be willing to help in an emergency. This was known as the Emergency Committee scheme which was to be in operation due to the imminent continental invasion. Nothing would be done to endanger lives, but it is not clear what the purpose of the scheme was.
Other miscellaneous tasks that the Scouts undertook included the delivery of 2000 milk cards to houses in the District during 1942. This may have been the start of milk rationing. As more arable land was given over to the growing of crops, milk production decreased and milk was rationed to 2-3 pints per adult per week.
Another rather unusual contribution to the war effort involved Greenock Scout Troops lending 20 semaphore flags to the Home Guard in 1940. It appears that the Home Guard forgot that the the flags were loaned to them because they expressed surprise when the Troops requested their flags back at the end of the war.
Finally, there were a number of parades held during the war and youth organisations such as the Scouts were frequently requested to participate. This is covered elsewhere.
11. Civil Defence Badge and Scout National Service Badge
The Scout Association introduced a war-time badge called the Civil Defence Badge (Fig. 15) in order to encourage Scouts to gain the necessary skills for coping with war time emergencies. The badge required a Scout to be able to use the telephone, carry messages, fit and maintain gas masks, have a knowledge of the locality and civil defence posts, know the dangers of panic and how to preserve discipline. There may have been other requirements on top of this. Andrew MacMillan , Alan Jubber, Ian Conn, Austin Craigie, Roy Farling, Robin McDougall, Alan MacKay, Fraser Miller, and Jim Morton all gained the badge (Fig. 16) and there were bound to be other 70th Scouts who did so, but who were not recorded in the Troop records.
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Figure 15 Civil Defence Badge
Figure 16 Scouts known to have earned the Civil Defence Badge (Andrew MacMillan Alan Jubber, Ian Conn, Austin Craigie, Roy Farling, Robin McDougll, Alan MacKay, Fraser Miller and Jim Morton) and the National Srevice Badge (Alan MacFadyen)
Figure 17 The National Service Badge.
The Scout National Service badge (Fig. 17) indicated that the holder was involved in some form of national service. Alan MacFadyen was the first Scout in the 70th to gain this badge in May 1942. It is not known whether anyone else did so. The badge appears to have been introduced about the Spring of 1939 in anticipation of the forthcoming conflict. There was also a National Service flash which may have been worn on shirt epaulettes. At the outbreak of war, the District set up a National Service Messenger Corps involving Scouts aged over 15, but it is not known how this developed.
A number of armbands were also produced for Scouts involved in some form of national service (Fig. 18).
Figure 18 Examples of armbands used during the war.
13. The Clyde River Patrol
12 War Service Scouts
In March 1942, the Scout District started up a War Service group for older Scouts aged 16-18, with the Scouts organised into War Service Patrols (WSP). Each WSP was run like a Rover Crew, with the addition of training in the use of arms by an Instructor. It is probable that membership of this scheme was in addition to membership of a Scout's own troop. The idea was to have weekly meetings, but this may quickly have changed to monthly meetings. The WSP ran for the rest of the war and was disbanded in 1945. Various members testified to the benefits of the WSP and the training they received.
The initiative for the WSPs stemmed from a desire to demonstrate the importance of Scouting to the war effort, especially as several pre-service cadet units were springing up in Greenock and across the country. There was a real concern that the government would insist on all youngsters joining such cadet units, which was seen to be detrimental not only to Scouting but to the individual boy. There was some basis for this concern as the Government had recently decided to register all youths aged 16-18. All youths registered had to state whether they were in a youth organisation. If not, they were required to join an organisation of their choice and, if they refused, the government could take further action. Acting District Commissioner J. J. Swan saw this as a first step towards the mobilisation of all boys, perhaps from the age of 12, and to train them in the use of arms. J.J. Swan strongly opposed such a possibility and recommended that boys aged 12-16 should be in an existing youth organisation, where the aim was to supplement what was being done in homes, schools and churches to help boys become good citizens, and to promote spiritual, mental and physical development. The District had no objection to boys of 16 undertaking some form of war service, but it strongly believed that military training for younger boys was inappropriate. Apart from the risks associated with a boy of 12-14 handling firearms, it was argued that a boy trained in the ideals of Scouting (or similar organisation) would be a more self reliant, loyal and resourceful soldier of his country than a boy with no training or discipline whatsoever.
It is not known whether any 70th Scouts were members of a WSP or not. It s also not clear what kind of activities they did other than one entry in the District records for June 1943 which stated that the War Service Scouts were working in farms during holiday time to earn funds for some association. There was also a suggestion that the War Service Scouts might be able to help out at Everton by building a log cabin or a wet weather kitchen, but it is not known whether this actually took place. Several activities involving Scouts were reported in the Greenock Telegraph may or maynot have involved the War Service Scouts. The following stories are two such examples.
One story involved a group of Scouts who were delivering firewood to elderly residents and received an unexpected reaction from an old woman who was hard of hearing. They knocked at the woman's door, then sang 'We are the Paradise Troop of Scouts' when the door was opened. The lady immediately shut the door in their faces of the puzzled Scouts who proceeded to leave the firewood with the woman's neighbour. Later, it transpired that the woman had misheard them and had spent the night fretting that enemy paratroopers had landed.
A second story occurred in May 1944 and involved a Scout who found a bomb in a field, placed it in his rucksack, and took it to his local police station. The police refused to have anything to do with it and sent the Scout to the County police station who proceeded to call in the army. It was not stated whether this incident happened in Greenock or not. On hearing about this, the County Commissoner for Renfrewshire made a point of discouraging Scouts from carrying out similar Good Turns involving explosives.
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Some older Scouts and Leaders were involved in the Clyde River Patrol (CRP) (Figs. 19 & 20), which was initially called the Clyde Anchorage Naval Service. This was the brainchild of the Royal Navy and was set up to act as a kind of marine Home Guard. The call for volunteers was made in the autumn of 1940 when Britain was facing invasion, and was open to men up to the age of 45 with sailing or boat handling skills. There were about 16 patrol boats (mostly cabin cruisers) on the Clyde (Fig ), and each weekend volunteers sailed up and down the river from the boom at the Cloch Lighthouse to Dumbarton to check for suspicious looking characters. The movement of enemy aircraft was also tracked and particular attention was paid to
Figure 19 The Avilia on patrol
see whether they dropped mines into the river. Sandy McKechnie and his brother (John) were amongst the Scouts that did this every weekend, and Robin MacDougall remembered wishing that he was with them, rather than having to study for exams. All the same, several duties were tedious and boring, as they involved sitting through the night in an anchored motor boat watching for aircraft or unauthorised river traffic. A number of 70th Scouts volunteered for this vigil including George Brown, Wilson Hill, John Menzies and Jim Tosh (Fig. 20). Disaster almost struck Jim Tosh and a friend on one of these vigils, as they succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty gas fire. Fortunately, they were found in time and rushed to hospital. The boats were initially based in the Albert Harbour, then moved to Port Glasgow in order to relieve congestion.
Figure 20 The crew of the Avilia (John Menzies, Jack Montgomery, Wilson Hill, Jim Tosh, and Robert Sinclair).
Another volunteer service that was in operation during the war was the Small Vessels Pool Admiralty Ferry Service or Runner Service for short. This essentially delivered mail to ships anchored out in the Clyde. It is not known whether 70th representatives were involved in that, but Scouting was certainly represented by the Rev J. McCallum Young and John MacKechnie. Volunteers spent a month each year serving on these ships. John MacKechnie learnt his seamanship in the Greenock Sea Scout Troop and also served on the Clyde River Patrol. When he was with the runner service, he served on a 55 foot Danish fishing smack in the English Channel during May 1944 - about a month prior to D-Day.
14. Decontamination and Rest Centre
Robin Mcdougall stated that the Decontamination and Rest centre (Fig. 21) was rapidly constructed on a patch of open ground after the start of the war, and included a tower that contained fluids or water that would be used in the event of a gas attack. Neil MacDougall worked at the centre when he was a medical student. Robin McDougall thought that the original open ground was used as a chicken run by some small dairy farmer. The building was later to be converted into the 70th's current HQ, and the tower is still present.
Figure 21 The Decontamination and Rest Centre in 1968 with modifications in progress to build the 70th Scout HQ. It is likely that the original centre was flat-roofed throughout.
15. The Air Training Corps (ATC)
George Brown recalled that Scouts wishing to join the RAF when they reached 18 generally joined the Air Training Corps (ATC) to increase their chances of getting accepted. Competition to join the RAF was fierce since the RAF appealed to the imagination of many youngsters who had seen the valour of the Battle of Britain pilots and the bomber crews who took the war to Germany. The ATC was based at Seafield House which had been a popular venue for Scout rallies and displays prior to the war. There were a variety of planes in the grounds and Hector Russell (a former DC for the District) was one of the chief figures. Later, the ATC moved to the West End Baths (the old Arts Guild), then to Belleaire.
16. Civil Defence and The Home Guard
Several older Scouts who were too young to join the forces volunteered for war service in Greenock. For example, Alan McFadyen was in the Civil Defence in 1942 (Fig. 22), while Nicol Smith was involved in the Home Guard. Civil Defence volunteers were seen as the general 'dogsbodies' of the war effort, and helped in rescues and other duties.
Figure 22 Alan MacFadyen in Civil Defence Uniform.
17. The Emergency Relief Organisation
Several Scouts were volunteers for the Emergency Relief Organisation (ERO). Boys were recruited through their schools and wore white armbands with ERO on them. Their duty was to turn up at a particular place after the All Clear siren had sounded after a raid. They were then used for a variety of jobs. George Brown was involved in delivering mattresses to undamaged households that were prepared to take in bombed out people. He remembered living conditions being pretty poor in some of these households.
18 Photography during the War
During the war, it was difficult to get photographic film. Even if you could get film, there were strict rules about taking photographs, especially when one lived next to a river which regularly saw the arrival of convoys, troopships and warships. At one point, there were 158 ships including liners and battleships anchored in line across the Clyde, having assembled for the invasion of North Africa. It was an impressive sight but no photos were allowed. Indeed, you could get into serious trouble for taking photographs wherever you went. George Brown remembered an incident when he and Johnstone Paterson were on holiday. They had just got off the bus from Carradale to Campbeltown, and Johnstone was about to take a photo of George, when a number of large naval ratings pounced on the pair of them and frogmarched them to a guard room where they had to account for themselves.
Considering all the difficulties related to tphotography, it is remarkable that Wilson Hill was able to take a series of photographs of Troop events during the war years. It is not known how he obtained his film, but one possibility is that he had access to film at the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory where he worked. Alan Jubber, who was a PL during the war, believed that Wilson could access film for a cine camera as well, and it would be fascinating to know what films he took from the period. Wilson developed his own photographs and was clearly a good photographer. For example, relatively few of his photographs are of Scouts standing around staring at the camera. Instead, most of the photographs reflect the nature of Scouting activities as well as the Scouts participating in them. This is not always an easy thing to do, especially on hikes when you sometimes have to go ahead of a party to catch them walking towards you (e.g. Fig. 23) or go off the route altogether to get a side on view (e.g. Fig. 24). One of the photographs which he took could conceivably have caused a fuss if the authorities had known about it since it showed part of the boom crossing the Clyde from the Cloch Lighthouse (Fig. 25).
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Figure 23 Cycle trip (1941)
Figure 24 Kelly Cut Hike (1943)
Figure 25 Right of Way Hike (1943)
19 Scouts in the Services
Although it has not been possible to find out what all the 70th 'Old Boys' did during the war, several are known to have served in the army, the RAF and the merchant navy. Others were involved in reserved occupations, serving as boffins and technocrats. Most came through the war unscathed, and at the start of this project, it was generally believed that no 70th Scouts died on active service. It has now been established that this is not the case. Two past members were certainly killed during the war as a result of enemy action, and possibly one other. Another died at a prematurely young age as a result of his wounds.
Most of the information provided here came from personal testimonies. However, it is recorded that the District prepared folders that provided information of the war service carried out by ex-Scouts, and distributed them to the Troops during 1947. Unfortunately, these folders have not been tracked down. An added complication is the fact that the 70th was probably amalgamated with the 59th at the start of 1947.
19.1 The Merchant Navy
The British Merchant Navy in 1939 was the largest merchant navy in the world, with approximately 9,000 British merchant ships plying the oceans. Given that the Clyde was an important port for many of these vessels and also contained the world's leading shipbuilding companies, it is not surprising that many of the merchant navy companies had their headquarters based in Glasgow.
At least two 70th Scouts served in the merchant navy during the war. This was a highly hazardous existence. Not only did seafarers have to cope with the normal hazards of gales and storms, they also faced the dangers of enemy U-boats, surface raiders and bombers in almost any part of the world. The most important theatre of conflict was the Atlantic Ocean, which was a crucial lifeline for supplies and equipment from the Americas. Unlike other battles, which took place over weeks or months, the Battle of the Atlantic lasted throughout the war. The German U-boat was particularly feared, and, at one point during 1942, shipping losses were so great that Britain faced the possibility of having to sue for peace. The losses suffered by the Merchant Navy were staggering. Approximately 3000 ships were lost during the war - about a third of the total ships present in the Merchant Navy at the start of the war. Of course, many of these were replaced by a heavy emphasis on shipbuilding both in Britain and the USA. What could not be replaced were the crews. Out of a total of 180,000 merchant crewmen, 30,000 sailors perished during the war - a sixth of the total. This represented the highest percentage of fatalities in any service. At least two ex-members of the 70th served on ships that were sunk during the war - George Kinnell and Sandy Campbell (Fig). The latter survived but the former did not.
George Kinnell (Fig. 26) was the son of T. and Catherine Kinnell who owned a Greenock dairy in Greenock. George was a pupil at Greenock Academy, and joined the 70th Troop in November 1936. There is not a great deal of information about what he did in Scouts, other than that he attended the 1937 Summer Camp, but it is known that he stuck with the Troop during a very difficult period at the beginning of the war. There is no record of when he eventually left the Troop, but it is known that he joined the Merchant Navy and served as a cadet on the merchant ship SS. Denpark from 1941-42. The Denpark was a steam merchant ship of 3,491 tons built in 1928 at Lithgows, Port Glasgow and was owned by J & J Denholm Ltd., Glasgow. On the 12th May 1942, the ship was part of convoy SL-109 sailing from Takoradi to Workington, and was carrying 5,100 tons of manganese ore. About 300 miles NW of the Cape Verde Islands, the Denpark was torpedoed by U Boat 128 with the loss of 21 of the 46 crewmen. George was not one of the survivors. He was aged 17 and his name was entered in Greenock Academy's Roll of Honour. It is also reported that all those lost are commemorated on Tower Hill Memorial, Panel 35, London (Fig. 26).
Sandy Campbell (otherwise known as 'wee Sandy') (Fig. 27) was born in 1924 and came from a seafaring family; his father was a chief engineer. Sandy was in the Troop from 1934 to 1939 and attended the summer camps of 1935 and 1937. He was never promoted, but he was a loyal Scout and, like George Kinnell, stuck with the Troop through a difficult period at the start of the war. He even helped out as an unofficial ASM at the end of 1940 and paid for the Troop's Christmas party that year. He joined the British India Steam Navigation company in 1940 as a cadet at the age of 16. Normally, he would have gone to cadet school, but many of these were closed at the beginning of the war. When he was due to set sail on his first ship, he received lots of going away presents and he was so delighted with them that he insisted on taking them with him on the ship. Unfortunately, his ship was torpedoed (possibly in the Indian Ocean) and he lost the lot! Fortunately, he was rescued and continued serving in the Merchant Navy for the rest of the war and for many years after, rising to the rank of Captain.
Figure 26 George Kinnell and Tower Hill memorial
Figure 27 Sandy Campbell.
19.2 The Royal Navy
Lieutenant Anthony Williams was an Englishman who was the 70th's Scoutmaster during 1945 and 1946. He served with the RNVS on HMS Pretoria Castle (Fig. 28) - a converted liner which served as an aircraft carrier on the Clyde. The carrier was used off Arran as a training carrier for new pilots practicing landings and take offs. Unfortunately, no photographs of Tony Williams are known to exist.
Figure 28 HMS Pretoria Castle in the River Clyde.
The Rev. Reid, who started the ball rolling as far as the 70th is concerned, was a navy chaplain for three years during the war, but further details are not known. It is has also been suggested that Hamish Steel (Eoin Steel's younger brother) was in the navy, although it is not certain whether he was in the Merchant Navy or the Royal Navy. Hamish was in the Troop from 1936 to 1939, but was not promoted. He survived the war and went on to University, but. committed suicide off the Esplanade. There has been some disagreement about why he committed suicide. Some attributed it to the effects of the war while others believed that it was due to the stress of University studies. Sheila Dunlop, who was Ian Dunlop's sister and the 70th's first Akela, served in the WRNS and was married to a Royal Navy officer who was killed on the Hood when it was blown up by the Bismark with the loss of all but four of its crew.
According to some accounts, Ian Dunlop - the 70th's Group Scoutmaster during the 1930s - served in the Royal Navy and was killed on HMS Hood. A man called Dunlop was certainly lost on the ship, but it was not the same man. As far as Ian was concerned, the evidence points to him being an army chaplain (see 14.4).
19.3 The Fleet Air Arm
Joseph Armstrong was a possible founder member of the troop. He left the troop in 1935 at the age of 14, and he served as a sub lieutenant in the Royal Navy Reserve during the war. It is likely that he was in the Fleet Air Arm since he was based at the Royal Navy Air Base in Arbroath. However, it is not known whether he was a pilot or aircrew. He died in an aircraft accident at 9.55 am on the 30th August 1943 as a result of 'war operations'. His plane crashed at Pathside Farm in Bellie, Moray. Joseph was aged 22 when he died. Unfortunately, no photographs of Joseph have been found.
19.4 The Army
Although some have thought that the 70th's GSM Ian Dunlop (Fig. 29) served in the Royal Navy, it seems more likely that he served as an army chaplain with the 15th Scottish Division (Fig. 30). This appears to be confirmed by a Greenock Telegraph article published towards the end of the war. Ian Dunlop was called up in 1939 and moved to Lochgilphead to join up. Alan Hardie suggested that Ian may have been considered for a mention in dispatches in 1945 when the Division was serving in North West Europe.
Figure 29 Ian Dunlop
Figure 30 Badge of the 15th Scottish Division
Alistair McGregor (Fig. 31) was in the 70th troop from the early 1930s to 1940 and left as an SPL. He fought in Burma as a captain in the King's African Rifles made up of East African troops (Fig. 32). He wrote the following poem which appeared in the Burma Star magazine after the war. The church bell referred to was that of the Old West Kirk in Nelson Street, Greenock.
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'Time and again each man would say,
How come I ended up so far away?
From streets that in boyhood he knew so well,
The homes, the shops and the old church bell
That struck each hour, and quarters too,
Familiar things as a young lad grew.
Learning to ride an old borrowed bike
wond'ring if he'd ever own the like,
Clydesdale horses pulling carts
Soon to give way to steel counterparts,
Old folks discussing the hard times, then
"The bloody Germans are at it again!"
The months fly by, the sirens sound
Goering's Luftwaffe bombing our town,
In 1940 we grew up quick
Soon familiar with the Bren gun's kick,
Then to Africa and Burma where a man would say
"How come I've ended up so far away?"
Not that it bothers me - I don't give a stuff,
But when Adolf and Jap decide its enough
Off home I'll go and be happy for a spell,
Back within the sound of the old church bell.'
Figure 31 Alastair McGregor
Figure 32 The King's African Rifles
Jim Crawford (Fig. 33) also fought in Burma, serving with West African troops. Jim was in the 70th troop from 1934-1941 and was a PL for 3 of those years. After a spell at University, he volunteered for the army and was called up in February 1943. He did his basic training in Yorkshire with the 55th armoured corps at Farnborough, then joined a pre-officer cadet training unit and went up to Sandhurst for 6 months. He was commissioned in February 1944 and was sent to West Africa for 6 months, before going to Burma.
Alan Hardie (Fig. 34) was a founder member of the troop, one of its first three patrol leaders and its first troop leader. He was in the troop as a Scout from 1933 to 1936, then as an ASM until 1939. In 1937, he joined the Territorial Army's Royal Engineers (Fig. 35) which was based at the old Victorian Fort Matilda situated between the torpedo factory and the Royal West boat club (Renfrewshire (Fortress) Co. R.E.). This was part of a defence unit which included a heavy gunnery unit in Port Glasgow, and which could be called up at any time if there was a national emergency. Indeed, the unit was called up during 1938 when war first threatened between Germany and the western allies. However, the unit stood back down following the Munich agreement. On 24th August 1939, Alan's unit was called up again and he served as a Royal Engineer until August 1946. Although his unit was not in the front line, he was with the British forces that occupied Narvik in Norway during 1940. When the British forces evacuated, Alan coordinated half of the Norwegian fishing boats involved in evacuating the troops from Narvik to the ships that were to convoy them home. Everyone boarded safely and Alan boarded the Arandora Star which was a very slow liner which had previously been on the Argentine run. The troop convoys reached the UK safely, but some of the escort ships were not so lucky. The aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her destroyer escorts HMS Ardent and HMS Acasta were intercepted and sunk by the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. This also meant the loss of about 20 Hurricane and Gladiator fighters planes which had been flying operations from frozen Norwegian lakes during the occupation of Narvik, and which had managed the difficult task of landing on board the aircraft carrier for the journey home. The air crew were
Figure 33 Jim Crawford
Figure 34 Alan Hardie
Figure 35 Renfrewshire (Fortress) Co. Royal Engineers.
also lost which was a poor reward for saving their planes. The only good thing one can say about this episode was that the loss of life would have been far greater if the troop carriers had been intercepted rather than the warships. Further information on HMS Glorious and the Narvik campaign can be found at the website www.historyofwar.org
After a month in the UK, Alan moved to Iceland for 9 months in July 1940 where he helped set up heavy coastal defences, then trained RA troops how to use searchlights and power installations. In April 1941, he returned to the UK and was based at Plymouth for several months before getting transferred to Egypt in April 1942. He served with a South African unit out there looking after the maintenance of water supplies and part of the Western Desert supply road. He then moved to Italy where his main role was to reconstruct blown bridges such that military bridging could be released for use elsewhere. He ended up in Austria before returning home. It is almost certain that Alan was the only ex -member of the 70th to have served in the forces from the very outbreak of hostilities to their conclusion.
Like Jim Crawford, Nicol Smith (Fig. 36) was in the armoured corps but it is not known where he served. Nicol left the 70th troop in 1940 as an SPL. He saw action during the war and was seriously wounded, losing part of his leg. He died not long after the war, possibly as a result of being 'knocked about ' so much. Jim Tosh (Fig. 36) was in the troop from 1935 to 1939. In 1941, he left veterinary college to join the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, then transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). He served in Kenya during the war in Nanyuki. Ian Munro (Fig. 36) left he troop in 1941 having been was a PL for three years. Not much is known of his war service other than he was commissioned into the army engineers. Ronald Grant (Fig. 36) served in the Paratroopers and reached the rank of W.O.1 (Regimental SM). John Park was in the 70th Scouts from 1934 to 1936. During the war, he was a dispatch rider. This was a particular hazardous existence. Of the 20 or so riders in John's original squad, only John and one other rider survived the war. Archie Stalker (Fig. 36) was in the Troop from at least 1934 to 1939 and was promoted to PL. He served in the Royal Corps of Signals from about 1942 until the end of the war. This included 2.5 years in India, then a transfer back to the UK in April 1945, then a further transfer to Germany. John Telfer (Fig. 36) is likely to have been a founder member of the 70th. He remained in the Troop until 1936, then became a Rover Scout. He served as a Captain in the RAMC, and was a well known doctor after the war.
Figure 36 Examples of Scouts from the 1930s who served in the Second World War (Nicol Smith, Jim Tosh, Ian Munro, Ronald Grant, Archie Stalker, John Telfer)
19.5 The Royal Air Force
A number of 70th ex Scouts served in the RAF during the war, including Dick Leggett (Fig. 37) . Dick was in the troop from 1936-1940 and was both Patrol Leader and Troop Leader. In 1940, he joined the RAF and rose to the rank of squadron leader. The full details of his service are still to be researched. George Brown (Fig. 37) was in the 70th from 1937-1944, rising to the rank of Patrol Leader then Troop Leader. In 1944, he turned 18 and volunteered for the RAF. After a selection process and several tests, he was accepted, and after a brief spell at University, he did his basic training in a Tiger Moth. However, at that point, the war ended - much to his frustration. The forces worked on a first in, first out policy, and so he was required to stay on in the forces until 1947. He was posted to Singapore for the last 6 months of his service where he had an enjoyable time playing lots of rugby for the RAF team. Duncan R. Black was probably one of the 70th’s founder members and he was certainly one of the first PL’s, being PL of the Curlew Patrol during 1933 and 1934. Unfortunately, he is one of only three ex-70th Scouts to have perished during the war. He was a sergeant wireless operator and gunner flying Whitney Vs with the 58th bomber squadron. The National Liberation Museum at Groesbeek, near Nijmegan, Holland has records which state that his plane was shot down north of Best, Eindhoven on the 8th June 1941. He would have been aged 20 or 21 at the time.
Other ex-70th Scouts who were in the RAF included Ian Fraser who was a pilot and was in the troop briefly about 1937, and Eoin Steel (Fig. 37) who may have been involved in RAF ground crew or administration. Harold Hastie (Fig. 37) also joined the RAF, but was not permitted to fly due to his eyesight. Instead, he got involved in something to do with radar. It is not known where he served during the war, but he was in Karachi in 1946. Harold was in the troop from 1934 to 1941 and was Troop Leader in his final year. Ronald MacKay (Fig. 37) was in the troop from 1937 to 1940, then served in the RAF as aircrew, but nothing is known of his actual war service.
Figure 37 Scouts from the 1930s and 1940s who served in the RAF during the Second World War (Dick Leggett, George Brown, Ian Fraser, Eoin Steel, Harold Hastie and Ronald MacKay. Photograph not available for Duncan Black.)
19.6 National Service after the War
A number of 70th Scouts served their National Service in the army and the RAF after the war (Fig. 38), including Matt Neilson with the Royal Engineers, and Andrew Webster with the REME. Robin McDougall served with the Black Watch in India and reached the rank of second lieutenant, while Eric Phillips served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, then the Royal Artillery, where he reached the rank of Captain. Campbell Conn was in the Royal Artillery serving in Palestine and Tripoli from 1947-49, while Neil MacDougall served from 1946-48 as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the canal zone and Greece. A number of 70th Scouts served in the RAF for their National Service after the war. These included James Neilson, Arthur Blake, Alan Jubber and Ian Wallace.
Figure 38 70th Scouts from the 1940s who are known to have carried out National Service in the forces after the war - Andrew Webster, Robin McDougall, Eric Phillips, Neil McDougall, Campbell Conn, Alan Jubber (missing Matt Neilson, Jame Neilson and Arthir Blake).
20 The Royal Navy Torpedo Factory
Wilson Hill served as Scout, Patrol Leader, Troop Leader, ASM and Scout Master from the Group's inception in 1932 until the mid 1940s. This was largely made possible by the fact that he was working with the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory (RNTF) experimental establishment involved in the design, testing and development of torpedoes. He was a very clever man with many practical skills, and was involved in research and development rather then production. He was based in Greenock to begin with, but he might have moved to Alexandria during the war to be closer to the torpedo testing area on Loch Long.
The Royal Navy Torpedo Factory was an important institution in Greenock both in the years leading up to the Second World War, and during the War itself. Several of the 70th Scouts and Leaders had parents working in the establishment. For example, the fathers of Alan Jubber, Roy Farling, Maurice Offord, Michael Close and Molly Edridge worked at the RNTF, and it is highly likely that the fathers of Rodney Smith and Norman Taylor were similarly employed. The RNTF was an important factor in tkeeping the 70th group afloat during the war since there was a signficant influx of RNTF workers and their families moving from Portsmouth to Greenock.
Figure 39 Wilson Hill
21 The National Fire Service
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Figure 40 Molly Edridge (Rae).
Molly Edridge (Fig. 40) was the seconf Akela for the 70ths Wolf Cub Pack, taking over from Sheila Dunlop. She ran the Pack from 1937 into the war years. At some point, she joined the National Fire Service and served in Greenock throughout the war.