Homework
A surprise request to offer assistance to my grandson with his school project on Remembrance and the stories of great grandparents, or in his case, great great grandparents, led me to revisit the piece that I have written previously, about John McKie M.N.
John served in the Merchant Navy throughout the Second World War and onwards until 1948 because he was involved in the Palestine conflict for two years after the war. He had been an apprentice ship engineer and was called up to serve in a tank regiment. When the recruitment officer discovered that John was completing his apprenticeship and that all domestic shipping was to become the Merchant Navy, he was allowed to remain with his shipping line.
John sailed in three areas of the world during the war, Burma, Italy and the Atlantic, followed by Palestine.
This is a picture of the cluster of Stars that he received for that service. Each recipient had to have served for at least six months in area of the war to be eligible for the Star.
What John’s service was and the type of shipping he was involved in, I have no detail of. He never spoke to family members about his service, and he left no record of his service other than his medals which have been carefully preserved by his family. The Merchant Navy was vital for transporting the military and its equipment and supplies to where the action was. It was also responsible for bringing essential food to the United Kingdom. This, I suspect is where the Atlantic was involved. I know from films and books that the Merchant Navy would have sailed the Atlantic in convoys protected by Royal Navy cruisers. Even then there was a significant loss of ships to the U Boat submarines that prowled the seas for their targets.
Given the length of John’s service, it is remarkable that he survived and for that he does have to be regarded as a hero if only because of his service below decks as an engineer, close to where any torpedoes might have penetrated.
As with every serving member of the Merchant Navy he also received the War Medal 1939-1945.
The War Medal 1939-1945 awarded to John McKie
This was awarded to everyone who served in the Second World War. This medal, like the Stars, was unnamed.
Lastly, after serving in the Palestine conflict of 1945-1948, (the outcome of which was the creation of the state of Israel), John received the Palestine, General Service, Medal.
John’s medals arrived in a small cardboard box, and they arrived at his family home in Glasgow Street, Ardrossan. He was 18 years old when he started his Merchant Navy career and 27 years old when he was discharged.
I have yet to discover what ships that John McKie was working on or for what shipping line he was employed by. The National Archives in London provided me with his medal card and his discharge number. I can find no other records from their recommended sources to tell me more about his service. He lived in Ardrossan where there was a shipyard and shipping services. He trained in the shipping yard and so I may have to start my research with information from any records that were saved from there.
The other relative that was included in the information that I sent to my grandson was his great great Grandpa, Andrew Nicol, who served during the First World War.
Andrew worked at the Nobel Dynamite Factory on the Ardeer peninsula, Stevenston. He was employed there as an electrical engineer. The Nobel Factory was so large and employed so many people, that they maintained a section of the Territorial Army of their own. From here personnel could be recruited for specific purposes. Andrew was recruited into the newly formed Royal Flying Corps. The RFC was created initially under the command of the British Army for the duration of the First World War until 1918 when it became established as the Royal Air Force.
Andrew was based in Blandford, Dorset, from records that I have seen. He would have been an Air Mechanic, ensuring that all the electrical components of the aircraft were serviced. For his duties, Andrew was awarded the Allied Victory Medal (1914-1919).
Andrew Nicol, in his military uniform, on his wedding day, with Rachel Welsh 1918
I am so pleased that one of my grandchildren has a project on Remembrance to do at school. Family records, stories, achievements are all lost to memory of just a few people unless they are recorded and passed on to others to read. Thank goodness it was not a Maths or Science project, I might have struggled with that.