Pte. William Downie
British Army 8th Btn. Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders
from:Nairn
William Downie is my father. He never spoke about the War except a little before his death when he suffered from loss of vision and dementia. What I know is gleaned from his army records and from my mother after his death. He joined up at Stirling Castle in 1939. He had been working for British Aluminium in Kinlochleven so went with the men from that area. He was twenty. He was sent to BEF in France 24th of April 1940 returning 16th of June 1940 having avoided capture, possibly from Le Havre.
He remained in the Scottish Borders from June 40 until 22nd of October 1942. It was here he met my mother, Elspet Jackson, at a fund raising fete in Ancrum. She said she fell in love with his smile. He managed to get word to her he was about to embark to North Africa. She travelled to Perth but couldn't find her way out of the station and was helped by two military police only to find him hiding under a lorry as he was obviously AWOL. He sailed from Gourock and was with the 8th Army in North Africa, then Italy where he disembarked at Taranto. The only story he ever told was finding, in an Italian port, a Nairn fishing boat called The Highland Lassie, which had been owned by his family. He was delighted by the free lunch he got for telling the current owner the history of the boat.
He was transferred on 22nd of February 1944 to 6th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders and was wounded in action on 12th of April 1944. He continued to serve with MEF until 5th of March 1945, then was in North Western Europe until 23rd of June 1946. Ten days leave allowed him to get married on VE Day in Nairn.
He was demobbed on 4th of July 1946, with an exemplary record and the rank of Cpl, but was recalled for training with the Camerons in 1951. I now correspond with the grandson and his family with whom he was billeted, in Borsbeke, Belgium. He, then my mother, now me, have exchanged Christmas cards with the family since 1945. He said they were incredibly kind to him.
