Glasgow Serviceman Shares VE Story

As hordes of people gathered along Whitehall for the service of remembrance, servicemen both young and old stood out from the crowds, medals proudly shining bright despite the gloom as they shared stories of their heroics.

Among them was Lieutenant Morgan McDonald, from Glasgow, a Royal Navy officer who is based at Faslane with Flag Officer Sea Training, where he is an instructor in training mine warfare.

Lt McDonald began his career as a reservist in 1999 and joined up full-time as an officer in 2003.

As the Gunnery Officer on HMS Pembroke, he helped protect coalition forces in the Middle East and off the coast of Iraq by conducting mine searches. He has also seen service in the Falklands.

The 33-year-old follows a proud family tradition - his brother, Douglas Mason, is a petty officer on HMS Dauntless while his grandfather, Sinclair Mick'' West, joined up before the war.

Lt McDonald said: He joined up at 16, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, and served throughout the war on board HMS Kenya.''

His grandfather saw action in the North Atlantic, where he was involved in the search for the German battleship Bismarck, as well as in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Far East.

Lt McDonald said: I think he is very proud of his service and the part he actually played.

He volunteered before the war, he wasn't called up, so I think he is very proud of his service and what he did for a living back then and the sacrifices that he made.

I think the fact that my brother and myself are both serving today as well, he is proud as punch of us as well, especially on a day like today.

Seeing us in uniform, as well, he can look back with some fond memories of his time in the service and the role he played.''

Lt McDonald said it was always a boost to see so many people attending memorial celebrations such as the VE Day commemorations.

He said: I think certainly, these days, I don't think the younger generation fully appreciate what actually happened back then and the scale of the conflict, and how much hardship and the state the country was actually in towards the end of the war.

So, it's great to see so many people out and celebrating and paying tribute to the people that made that sacrifice for us.''

Attending the service was Charles Clarke OBE, 91, who served as a Flight Lieutenant in 619 Squadron during the Second World War.

Speaking of his memories of VE Day, he said: On VE Day I can remember listening to Churchill on a portable radio in Brussels, I felt a sense of excitement and relief as I'd been freed from the PoW camp just 10 days earlier.

Life on the camp was tolerable. Fortunately we were young and fit but food was in short supply.

The uncertainty was the worst thing about it all. After the murder on camp of 50 people, anything was possible. We were just so relieved to be free at last on what became known as VE Day.''

Harold Bradley, 91, was also a prisoner of war who was freed days before VE Day.

An infantryman with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers who was later sent to join the Royal Artillery, he landed on Sword Beach in Normandy on his 21st birthday, June 9 1944, just three days after D-Day.

His memories of VE Day are vague.

Mr Bradley, from Westgate-on-Sea in Kent, said: Towards the end of the war, I think on April 14 - I say think, because when you are in war you don't have calendars to refer to - I was captured and spent the last three weeks of my service within a German prison camp.

That prison camp, when we got there, had about 150-200 Welsh Guards who had been prisoners since Dunkirk.

I remember them saying that most of us, if you were in uniform, think you might get killed or you might get injured, but being captured was a whole new experience and something that you just didn't contemplate.''

Mr Bradley was forced to work on the railways in northern Germany and was left unconscious for six days after a train containing ammunition exploded when it was shot by planes.

He was eventually released by the Americans about two days before VE Day.

He said: I don't remember, so there was no excitement. I have vague memories of getting into a plane, which was a Lancaster, and it was stripped of all the seating.

There were maybe 100 of us inside the Lancaster just sitting on the floor and we flew home like that. I imagine this probably took place on VE Day.''

Today, at the Cenotaph, his thoughts drifted to his fallen friends.

He said: The big thing that I think of is the friends that didn't come home.

It might sound strange for a gunner, but the man who impressed me most in my experience was our major, our battery commander. He was a wonderful man and he got killed crossing over the Rhine.''

Seeing the tributes brought him a great sense of pride, he said: I wish that modern-day politics and world troubles would give me the world that we fought for, but I don't have any control over it.''

RAF drill instructor Corporal Peter Farrington also attended today's celebrations.

The 36-year-old, who is stationed at the recruit training squadron in Halton, Bucks, also comes from a proud military family - his grandfather was an RAF signaller in Africa in the Second World War while his great-grandfather survived five torpedo attacks during the First World War.

Cpl Farrington's grandmother Violet Howarth also worked for British Balloon Command in Newcastle during the Second World War while her brother was a chief petty officer.

Originally a medical orderly at RAF Halton - the same base that her grandson is stationed to - she grew tired of what she called tea and blackout curtain duty'', and redeployed to launch the barrage balloons to help keep the German dive bombers in the air and away from the city.

Cpl Farrington said: She often talks about the fact that we're lucky now we're not living in Nissen huts and that we've got decent accommodation with heating and how good it is today to what it was.

But if she was young enough, she would go back and do it all again.''

Paying tribute to the sacrifices of her generation, he said: They were amazing people. They served in a far more destitute time than we did - we have nice air-conditioned tents where we serve, they had trenches and cold winters.

We get looked after a lot better now.

It is great that we can celebrate and remember them. It is good that we can educate the youth of today about the past and it is important that we never forget these people.

It makes me very, very proud to still be serving and have family who have served.''

While his grandmother could not be at the commemorations, Cpl Farrington was certain she will not have missed it.

He said: I am sure she will be watching on the telly and she will have a tear in her eye.''