Arrival in Scotland

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“We arrived in Scotland in the Firth of Clyde, and we docked about ten miles south of Glasgow within sight of Brown Shipbuilding, which was where the Queen Elizabeth was built in the first place. There were 15,000 men aboard, which was the most that had been on a ship at one time ever. They had bunks in the swimming pools, and every single space was occupied on this ship. There were two meals a day and there was a continuous chow line. I was very fortunate I had a state room. The problem was that I had to share it with 12 other guys. At any rate, we arrived at Scotland, and we went to a place on Clydebank called Rosneath. And we didn’t realize it at the time but this was to be our home for the next two or three months anyway. And let me tell you that the bonny banks of Clyde are not so bonny in winter. It’s cold and it’s rainy and it’s gloomy. But the natives were friendly, and with a name like McDonnell, they accepted me as one of their own, which went a long way. And it was there that I developed a lifelong addiction to their most famous product, scotch whiskey.”