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This story was told to East Ayrshire Libraries during their Tea Party of 11th June 2004 by Matty Kerr

Matty remembers the bombing of Clydebank in 1941 and the fire bombing of Ardeer Explosives Factory – everyone was scared stiff that the factory would explode. My brother William worked in Ardeer and was in the factory the night it was firebombed.
My brother John was in the marines and was on the landing crafts ferrying soldiers to the D-Day landings. He was also in Burma in 1944. I was at Glasgow University and the students “volunteered” to work on farms near Aberdeen to pick potatoes, bail hay etc. It was hard work but good fun.

There were black Canadian soldiers nearby working in timber – they couldn’t fight abroad as the Germans would have shot them on sight. Dances were held locally and the soldiers took us back to the farms by bus. Very romantic.

There was rationing at home but we were not too bad on the farm and we sent home things like honey to help out.

My cousin Ben Thomson was a Kilmarnock footballer and the girl he married felt she was not getting enough money. He joined the Navy and his first ship was in the Jarvis Bay Convoy and he was lost at sea after a German attack.

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