Those were interesting times back in the early seventies when the US Navy sent me to the Old Country
They sent me to an RAF base (Royal Air Force) at Edzell in rural Scotland. While there I had occasion to meet a beautiful young Scottish lass. Later, and for some reason I’m not totally certain of, she consented to be my wife. “As we speak” she still is.
Married sailors could either live in base housing or off base, or as they called it in government speak, “on the local economy.”
Base Housing was just across the fence from the base itself and consisted of row after row of boring houses that all looked the same. They were all filled with Americans. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but when you are living in an absolutely beautiful foreign country, with very friendly people, why live on base? And Americans can sometimes get on your nerves…even if you are one.
The local economy option meant you could rent from a local landowner who might have a cottage, farm house or maybe an apartment to rent. Several shipmates from those days lived in some very nice, might I even say exotic places, tucked away down hedge and stone wall lined, twisting, narrow wee roads in the rural Scottish countryside. They all have great stories of friendships they made during that time. Someone should write a book.
By far the best story though was our friend and shipmate Donald X McDonald. Mack as we called him was an ET (Electronics Technician) like myself. Mack was a single guy, and had previously served in the Air Force. He was, if I remember correctly, from Atlanta Georgia and was a great friend. Yet another that I have sadly lost contact with over the years.
Mack lived off base, but differently than most. He lived in a castle. Kinnaird Castle near Brechin to be precise. Kinnaird is the ancestral home of the Earls of Southesk and dates to the 15th century. It has been the home of the Carnegie family for over 600 years.
Mack lived in an apartment at the top of the castle. He had absolutely amazing views of the castle grounds.
Going to visit Mack, we used the servants entrance in the back and Mack’s instructions were always to bring firewood up when you came. His apartment had an amazing fireplace, one that was tall enough to actually walk into. We would park in the back, and there might be several really, really nice cars there belonging to friends or relatives of the Earl.
This was great stuff for someone like myself with an imagination. I always say, “what good is it to have an imagination if you don’t use it once in a while?”
This was back in the day before castles and stately homes rented rooms to the public. I have no idea how Mack managed to pull off living in that castle.
The “beautiful young Scottish lass, myself and our small family lived in base housing, but not the boring ones I described to you earlier. We lived in base housing in a short row of houses in a wee village in Aberdeenshire about 20 miles from the base, right smack on the North Sea! It was called Inverbervie and had a Royal history. Living there was one of the best things that could have ever happened to us.
That place provided more great stories than I have space for here.
Should you doubt any of this, there is a young man from Hooker, my homebtown, who came to see us at Inverbervie. He can confirm all I’m telling you. His name is Lonnie Bailey. His submarine came into the submarine base at Holy Loch on the other side of Scotland. Lonnie managed to get a few days leave and hitch-hiked all the way across Scotland just to come and see us. Great Guy! He has some stories!
“Those were the days of my friend…..”