Seven Glasgow WW2 stories you should know on VE Day

One of the most destructive conflicts of all-time, the Germans finally called it quits with a devastated Berlin surrounded and their leader Adolf Hitler dead in his bunker after committing suicide. His successor, Karl Doenitz, authorised the nation's surrender just days later. 

On May 8 1945, the UK joined countries across around the world to celebrate the end of a war which took more than 70 million lives - some estimates place the final death toll closer to 85m - and wreaked havoc on local communities. 

The celebrations in Glasgow were no different with singing in the streets and complete strangers hugging like life-long friends as they rejoiced in the news thousands of young men were finally on their way home. 

This became known as Victory in Europe (VE) Day and has since been marked every year with the promise never to repeat the mistakes of the past. 

This week, we've been sharing memories from our readers as they recall the day none of them will ever forget. 

Here are seven Glasgow WW2 stories you need to know this VE Day. 

1. Tribute to Glasgow soldier first to liberate Guernsey in 1945

Glasgow-born Sergeant-Major Robert Shaw was the first British soldier to land on the island after its liberation from German occupation at the end of the Second World War.

The Springburn-born man was part of Task Force 135, the British Military Contingent which liberated the island as part of Operation Nestegg on May 8, 1945. 

As Sergeant-Major of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers unit, he had travelled from Plymouth overnight and was first to disembark when the ship arrived at L’Ancresse Bay.

“He talked often of that moment, of riding off the landing craft on a motorbike followed by a string of armoured vehicles, and being mobbed by locals,” recalled his granddaughter Rachael Newton this week. 

“The first person he met was a young boy called John Rault, who was cycling on the right-hand-side of the road. My grandfather stopped him and told him he should cycle on the ‘British side’ in case he was knocked over by the vehicles behind him.

“Forty-seven years later in 1992, my grandfather went back to Guernsey with several other war veterans, to receive commemorative Liberation medallions.

“After the local newspaper printed his story, John Rault got in touch and the two met up and stayed in touch until my grandfather died in 2005, aged 89.”

Read more about Robert Shaw's incredible story here. 

2. Govan war veteran received his World War II medal more than 70 years after fighting

A GOVAN war veteran waited more than seventy years to be awarded with the medal he earned while serving in the Second World War. 

Royal Marine Frank Coyle was given the medal in 2017 he should have received by the Ministry of Defence decades ago - at the age of 90. 

The medals were tracked down thanks to The Coming Home Centre. 

Ex-marine Adam Edwards, deputy operations manager at The Coming Home Centre, took on Frank's case. The medals were awarded within three months of Adam sending off the correct documentation to the Ministry of Defence.

Frank said then: "I feel big headed after getting the medals. It was a special moment after looking all these years for some help."

Frank was sent to war as a young man and fought in South East Asia. He landed in 1945 after the Japanese had surrendered. He was also based in Siam, now known as Thailand, for 18 months during his service.

Read more about Frank's story here. 

3. Govan's war time tragedy 

MORE than 60 people sadly lost their lives during a raid on Govan as part of the notorious Clydebank Blitz. 

It was March 13, 1941 when a bomb, thought to be destined for the Stephen’s shipbuilding yard, missed the engineering department and hit the tenement opposite.

Numbers 1249 to 1259 Govan Road were completely destroyed and many lost their lives, including a young married couple. 

The Blitz continued into a second night and left many parts of Clydebank in ruin as 500 people died. 

In Govan, one man told of his belief he had spotted enemy plains on a reconnaissance mission ahead of the raid. 

George Rountree recalled in 2016 that he and pals were outside their homes in August 1940 when they heard a faint noise. 

As it got louder, one of George’s friends said it was different to the sound of planes they were used to.

They stopped playing and stood there, looking up into the sky. George remembered that he and his friends were worried the noise might be the first sign of an attack and they were only partly reassured that there had been no air-raid siren. But they stayed where they were anyway and kept looking up.

A short time later, someone spotted the plane.  It was the next day that there were reports in the newspapers that a German reconnaissance plane had been sighted over central Scotland.

The Clydebank Blitz killed more than 500 people over two nights and left many thousands homeless, but in the air war in Scotland a total of 2,500 were killed and some 8000 injured.

In Glasgow, there were at least 11 attacks, hitting everywhere from Tradeston to Scotstoun and Partick to Linthouse. In one attack on Tradeston on March 14, a mine landed between a tram and a tenement on Nelson Street, killing 110 people, 11 of them in the vehicle, while in another on Yarrow’s shipyard the same night 67 were killed.

Read more about the Clydebank Blitz and its impact on Glasgow. 

4. Thousands of children were evacuated to the countryside 

As war broke out across the world, more than 100,000 children were evacuated from Glasgow in the space of just three days.

Fears of intense aerial bombing prompted the authorities to arrange for the evacuation not just of city schoolchildren but also of mothers with pre-school offspring, as well as the blind and the disabled.

For most people, such a move was voluntary.

Some people made private arrangements, but many families chose to stay together and risk the bombing.

The early months of 1939 saw preparations being made for the mass evacuation of children and other people from vulnerable areas.

The affected areas in west Scotland included Glasgow and Clydebank. From May 1941, after the damaging Clydeside air raids by the Luftwaffe, Greenock, Port Glasgow and Dumbarton were added.

At 11.07am on August 31, 1939, the order came down to 'Evacuate Forthwith'. On September 1, 2 and 3 almost 120,000 youngsters left Glasgow.

In common with children in other parts of Scotland, they turned up at their local primary school, equipped with gas-mask, toothbrush, a change of underclothes, and a label. They made their way to the nearest railway station.

Unusual evacuation locations included Glen Nevis Youth Hostel at Fort William – the destination for 124 people from Glasgow's Blind Asylum – and Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, which hosted sick children from the Southern General Hospital.

All told, children and older people from Scotland's largest city found themselves in such places as Perthshire, Kintyre and Rothesay.

Read more about the evacuation of children from Glasgow here.

5. Glasgow veteran returned to battle site 76 years on

A GLASGOW veteran of the Second World War returned to Egypt more than 70 years since he fought there in the Battle of El Alamein.

Alex Munro, who was 96 in 2018, said the visit – to lay a wreath for a fallen friend – would help him “lay old ghosts to rest.”

Alex, who was a gunner in the Royal Artillery, said then: “When I went to Egypt, I was just 20 years old and all I remember was seeing nothing but sand and bushes. I travelled there on a troop ship to Suez and fought at the front.

“I haven’t been back since. After I left the regiment I lost contact with old friends.

“It was good to go back to understand more about the role we played in the overall battle – and to lay a wreath for my friend, who didn’t make it.”

Read more about Alex's trip here 

6. Princess Elizabeth celebrated unnoticed among the crowds on VE Day

A teenage Princess Elizabeth danced in jubilation on VE Day after slipping into the crowds unnoticed outside Buckingham Palace.

The future Queen, then just 19, and her sister Princess Margaret, 14, joined thousands of revellers as they gathered in front of the royal residence on May 8 1945.

The princesses did the hokey cokey and the Lambeth Walk, and took part in chants of “We want the King” at the Palace railings.

They also danced the conga through the Ritz hotel in nearby Piccadilly.

And yes, we know this one isn't Glasgow. But, we think it's worth sharing all the same. 

7. 'Forgotten hero' killed saving lives 

A GLASGOW man who became known as the city's "forgotten hero" was killed during the Second World War. 

Lieutenant John Young died, aged 24, while covering a withdrawal in the face of a Japanese invasion of India.

His sacrifice on 31 March 1944 allowed comrades to prepare for the ensuing 64-day Battle of Kohima, which was a turning point in the war with Japan.

A granite plaque was unveiled outside Lt Young's former home in Glasgow's West End in 2011. 

Then Glasgow Lord Provost Bob Winter said at the time: "Lt Young's story is one of amazing courage, care for those under his command and bravery." 

The inscription on the plaque read: "7 Jedburgh Gardens was the home of Lieutenant John M.Young, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders attached The Assam Regiment who, age 24, in World War II at Kharasom near Kohima, gave his life in a heroic stand to protect India from invasion having first saved the lives of the brave men he led."