Genealogy Thread

[funky_peanut]

I'm almost postive that in June 1940 the Norwegian King and Governent were evactuated to the UK via Aberdeen... wheey hey!

[Alan Cynic]

We've a few other family air-raid stories. Here's another....

My mum's cousin's family lived in a top-floor flat in King St. One night everyone was out (must've been a weekend), and the cousin was on a date with her boyfriend. When the young couple returned to King St they lingered in the downstairs lobby for a snog/grope session, in the midst of which a bomb went off outside. They were knocked along the corridor by the blast, but were relatively unscathed. When they finally ploughed their way upstairs the family flat had been blown out...no roof or front wall. If they'd not stopped for a canoodle they'd have both been killed.

I turned the above tale into a song called 'the King Street bomb'.

There's a VG book which came out a few years ago which is called 'Far wis ye fan the sireens blew' (I think!). It has lots of tales from Aberdeen in the war.

[Guest Gladstone]

We've a few other family air-raid stories. Here's another....

My mum's cousin's family lived in a top-floor flat in King St. One night everyone was out (must've been a weekend), and the cousin was on a date with her boyfriend. When the young couple returned to King St they lingered in the downstairs lobby for a snog/grope session, in the midst of which a bomb went off outside. They were knocked along the corridor by the blast, but were relatively unscathed. When they finally ploughed their way upstairs the family flat had been blown out...no roof or front wall. If they'd not stopped for a canoodle they'd have both been killed.

I turned the above tale into a song called 'the King Street bomb'.

There's a VG book which came out a few years ago which is called 'Far wis ye fan the sireens blew' (I think!). It has lots of tales from Aberdeen in the war.

That sounds like a tcheuchter Dizee Rascal song. Make it happen.

[ca_gere]

That sounds like a tcheuchter Dizee Rascal song. Make it happen.

Ha hahaha! You'd need a dub remix... Clarted in dubs!

@alan cynic. I love your stories.

[Guest Gladstone]

Out of interest - was there a valid reason that they bombed the fuck out of Aberdeen more so than other cities (like the capital!) in Scotland?

[Alan Cynic]

Cheers!

I like the idea of a clarted in dubs mix!

Another wee tale....(if I may?)....

My mum & her pal were doing a 'firewatch' regularly in Golden Square (not sure why), and were very proud of their contribution to the war effort. One night they were on duty when the two of them heard the sirens sounding......they started dashing about and doing whatever it was they were supposed to do when an old cleaner wifey came upstairs to see what all the commotion was. On being told they were reacting to the air-raid siren she laughed and said "Ye daft wee lassies,....that wis the all-clear"

It seems, with typical Davidson-like sharpness, they had slept through the whole air-raid.

[Chris]

Out of interest - was there a valid reason that they bombed the fuck out of Aberdeen more so than other cities (like the capital!) in Scotland?

They could reach it from Norway.

Also it was an important port and still had some shipbuilding at the time I think.

[Guest Gladstone]

They could reach it from Norway.

Also it was an important port and still had some shipbuilding at the time I think.

Ah - that makes perfect sense.

[Alan Cynic]

I think it was also a handy place to off-load any spare bombs on the way back to Norway.

Famously, one German plane was shot down over Aberdeen.....and landed on the old ice-rink (where Asda is, at Bridge of Dee).

[Alphas]

I think it was also a handy place to off-load any spare bombs on the way back to Norway.

There's a big hole at Stonehaven Golf Club called Hitler's Bunker for this reason. German planes offloaded their leftover bombs and hit the first fairway. Kept it in play at least, would have been a shot penalty if they put it over the cliff.

[Alan Cynic]

Still...at least they made their own hole-in-one

[-matthEw-]

Did you grow up in Strichen??

I don't know further back than my grandparents, but looks like this:

M: Glasgow

MM: New Deer

MF: Aberdeen

F: New Deer

FM: New Deer

FF: New Deer

Nah, Aberdeen. Most of my Granny's sisters and mates from Strichen moved to Aberdeen donkeys ago as well, so don't know too many people out that way these days.

[Guest Gladstone]

Nah, Aberdeen. Most of my Granny's sisters and mates from Strichen moved to Aberdeen donkeys ago as well, so don't know too many people out that way these days.

Fuckin' toonser.

[Alan Cynic]

I once shot a man there, just to watch him die.

But now I'm guilt-strichen

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

I may need to verify my great-grandparents:

M: Shetland

MM: Shetland

MF: Norway

MGM: Shetland, Norway

MGM: Shetland, Norway

F: County Down, Ireland

FM: County Down, Ireland

FF: County Down, Ireland

FGM: County Down, Ireland, County Down, Ireland

FGF: County Down, Ireland, County Down, Ireland

[Alan Cynic]

Ok little one.......

I was telling my mum about this thread yesterday, and she said she got so used to air-raid sirens going off at night that she stayed in bed and read a book instead of going to the Anderson shelter. However one night the bombs seemed to be landing gradually closer (she thinks the Germans were targetting Forresterhill Hospital), and she and her grandad stood in the doorway watching them come down. One seemed to be heading their way, and her grandad pulled her back into the lobby. They actually saw it whooshing past and landing in a nearby field (belonging to a market garden called 'Coutt's Farm', between Midstocket Road and Ashgrove Road (it's now long gone, although I have vague memories of it). The bomb failed to explde, embedding itself in the ploughed earth, but, as I already mentioned, the Davidsons are a dimmish bunch, so my great-grandad took my mum over to the field to try and find it...which they did!!!!!

My gran apparently went mental when she found out !!!!

Now, go and tidy your room!!

[jon]

I wish my mum grew up in war time

I am reasonably certain that she doesn't.

[Shaki]

Ok little one.......

[Le Stu]

This thread is giving me such a warm fireplace feeling.

I wish I'd asked my English grandfolks more about their war stories. They were all awesome tank commanders and shit (or so they claimed) giving Jerry what for.

[Alan Cynic]

Thank you Alan:) Do you have lot's of these stories up your sleeve out of curiosity? I wish my mum grew up in war time, she's got no good stories at all:down:

I've tons of tales.....some great ones from my dad about his experiences in WW2....how he was 'accidentally' brave!!

One of the best stories I've heard about WW2 was from an ex-workmate of mine whose father was in a tank in France post D-Day. According to him the British tank's gun turret was cranked round manually (normally sedately!). On one occasion they entered a wee village with the turret facing backwards, and were confronted with a German tank also 'facing backwards'. Apparently the German tank had an automatic turret (normally fairly fast), and it was basically a race to see who could get the turret round first.

Because their lives really did depend on it the British tank crew cranked like fuck, and just got their gun round before the Germans....otherwise my ex-workmate wouldn't have been alive to tell me the story!

I reckon this would make a great scene in a war film.

n.b.......I'm not totally sure about the tank types, although I think he said his dad's one was a Sherman..

[Lemonade]

I don't know much about my family....

F - Mintlaw

M - New Deer

Beyond that I have no idea, and all my grandparents are dead so I can't ask them. They all had local accents though There's a shitload of Candians on my mum's side, but I don't know if they were Scots who moved to Canada or Canadians who moved to Scotland.

[Alan Cynic]

Just about an hour ago I saw a photo of my paternal grandmother for the first time....it was quite a weird feeling.

[Alan Cynic]

I've been digging on the library's genealogy site, and now have a bit more info on family. Here's what I've got on Great-Grandads....

1) From Aberdeen, and was a butcher (had some run-ins with the law as a teenager, and liked the

drink) His dad was a baker from Duffus.

2) From Longside, and was a ploughman, then a granite worker, then gardener/nurseryman. Apparently a quiet man with a dry wit who enjoyed the Prince of Wales in his old age (the pub, not the heir to the throne)

3) From Laurencekirk, and was a ploughman, then a railway labourer, then the 'Town Officer' (swept streets, rang bells, held prisoners in jail etc). Dunno about his drinking habits, but he was well thought-of, according to the Kincardineshire Observer.

4) Bit of a mystery here.....the clues suggest he was a fish& game dealer who briefly shared a shop with my great-grandmother in Rosemount. She then got pregnant and he 'disappeared'.

As far as Great Grandmas go, I know this....

1) Nothing, apart from living in Aberdeen...but she looks stern in the photos! Her folks came from Cruden Bay

2) Farm labourer's wife, the latterly ran lodgings in a flat in Ord Street.(mostly quarry workers). Was a lovely wifey

3) Not much known, but her father & uncle were hand-loom weavers in Laurencekirk.

4) Was a sick nurse/midwife, then ran a grocer's shop, then reverted to being a midwife. All in Rosemount, although she was from Laurencekirk originally.

[Alan Cynic]

OK...just for you....

My Dad has some good stories about his lack of bravery in WW2. Here's one...

He was driving a bren-gun carrier on a wee track through a forest somewhere in France, not too long after D-Day. They'd been warned there was a Tiger tank in the general area, so were already a bitty nervous. Once they were deep in the woods they halted for a fly-cup, and were in the middle of brewing up when they heard the rumble of tank tracks in the distance. Now, had this been a Hollywood epic they'd have quickly fashioned some anti-tank device, or dropped on it from the trees and lobbed hand-grenades into its every orifice, but, being aware that this course of action might result in death, they opted instead to abandon the bren-gun carrier, and their fly-cup tools to their fate, and hide as deep in the forest as they could get.

A while later they had to sheepishly return to the scene, as it turned out the tank they'd heard was American, and the yanks were none too pleased that the Marie-Celeste bren-gun carrier was blocking their way.

(He was involved in some genuine bravery on other occasions though....honest!!!).

Here's the boy....

[framheim]

M: Drumlithie

MM: The Mearns

MF: The Mearns

MGM: The Mearns

MGM: The Mearns

F: Netherley

FM: The Mearns

FF: The Mearns

FGM: The Mearns

FGF: The Mearns

Fuck all you incomers.

er, other way round there chris.