In April 1926 my dad, aged 14, and a friend aged 11 were up in court in Cupar charged with theft from a shop in our home village in Fife. My dad was sent to Rossie reformatory and his friend was sent to the Mars training ship.
Many years later during WWII they served together in the Royal Navy in a boom defence vessel where my dad was a petty officer and his friend was the skipper. One night in 1944 they were in harbour in Dover when there was an air raid. My dad was injured and spent the next year in various hospitals but his friend the skipper had gone into the town before the Luftwaffe came over and was killed.
Harry
