Glasgow men share tales of loss and friendship from days of National Service

Bobby Pollock got in touch to tell us he still had his father’s and grandfather’s conscription medals and revealed his dad, Ian, had also spent 18 months working for the Palestine Police after World War II.

One particularly traumatic event from that time stood out in his memory.

“My dad was a very quiet person and didn’t talk much about his National Service,” said Bobby, who lives in Croftfoot.

“He met King George VI at Buckingham Palace to get his National Service medal and his Palestine Police medal.

“He did not speak much about the war at all, and kept one story from Palestine to himself for many years.

“His best friend was shot and killed in front of him when they had a night off and went to the movies in the small town of Haifa.

“In the queue for the movies his friend was chatting up some local girls and let it slip that they were in the Palestine Police (something they were warned never to do).”

Bobby adds: “A short period of time later while still queuing, a car pulled up beside them and a gun was pointed out the window and two shots were fired and my father’s friend collapsed and died at the scene.”

Bobby inherited the National Service medals of both his father and his grandfather when his dad died in 2018.

“My grandfather, Robert Pollock, was wounded in World War I,” he explains.

“He had a butcher shop on Hospital Street in the Gorbals with his brother Tommy until they had a family “disagreement” and sold the shop

“My grandfather used his share of the spoils to buy a shop in Tweedsmuir Road, Hillington. When he retired, the shop passed to my dad.”

Regular Times Past reader Dan Harris also got in touch to share a moving National Service memory.

Read more: "I was proud of my National Service - I'd have been a poorer man without it"

“When I had finished my engineering apprenticeship, at 21, I was conscripted into the Royal Engineers,” he told us.

“On the way to the training camp in Malvern, I met up with three other Glasgow boys going to the same place. One, was Gordon Landels from Partick.

“We did six weeks’ basictraining, which for a former Boys Brigade boy, wasn’t too bad an experience, followed by 10 weeks field training, which involved bridge building, mines and explosives.”

Afterwards, Dan was posted to a regiment in Minden, West Germany but Gordon was posted to another training camp in England.

“I told him he was a lucky sod, getting a home posting,” said Dan. “Part of his new training schedule involved a more intensive type of training involving mines and explosives. Shortly after I had been in Germany, my wife, Marion, wrote to me to tell me Gordon had been killed in a training exercise involving explosives. He was given a full honours funeral back in Glasgow.”

The Korean War was in full swing at that time, recalls Dan.

“I felt very lucky to have been posted to Germany,” he says. “Imagine my horror when I was informed that my regiment sent troops to Korea every month.”

In the end, Dan avoided Korea, firstly completing a wireless operators course and then a posting in West Berlin.

“We were in a former German cavalry barracks, separated from Spandau Prison by a wire fence,” he recalls.

Dan, who married his sweetheart Marion, 67 years ago, recalls happier times too.

“Prior to going to Germany, I was allowed 10 days embarkation leave,” he says. “While I was on leave, Marion and I got married. When I returned to barracks the commanding officer was furious.”

He laughs: “Well, nobody had told me that I needed his permission to get married....”

Did you complete National Service? Get in touch by emailing ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk