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Sgt. James Goldie Prentice
British Army 9th Battalion Gordon Highlanders
from:Coatbridge
James Goldie Prentice, in his own words: "On 16th of October 1939, we were at work on a scaffold at Rosyth Military Dockyard when we heard airplane engines above we looked up and spotted two bombers flying up river. They crossed the Forth Bridge, bombs were dropped, all missing the bridge. It now sunk in this was for real they were enemy planes. We were working next to two Cruisers the famous Repulse, a battle cruiser, and the Pelican, a pocket cruiser. We were almost deafened by the noise when they both engaged them. The sky was littered with white puffs in the vicinity of the planes. The ships guns ceased firing and we saw the reason spitfires from the 602 City of Glasgow Squadron took over and brought them down. This was the first air raid in Britain. The day following the air raid, I received a formal notice to report to Stirling Castle on 20th of October, where I enlisted with another 95 young men from Lanarkshire. We were posted to the 9th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, who, at that time, were stationed not far away in Alloa."
In 1991, James Goldie Prentice was invited with a small group of Burma veterans, to join in a good will trip to Japan. This trip was initiated by a Japanese veteran. During the visit, he toured Japan and met men he had fought against in various battles in Burma. The trip proved to be a time of great healing for the men who participated.
