Ullapool - Voices From Their Past (21 of 23)

This audio recording is part of a World War II project carried out by Ullapool Museum and Ullapool Primary School. 'Voices From Their Past - Messages For Your Future' was recorded in 2005. The interviewees - Mary and Donnie MacKenzie - are being interviewed by children of Ullapool Primary School.<br /> <br /> Interviewer: What did your family think of you fighting in the war?<br /> <br /> Donnie: They just had to think the best, ma dear. The mail that we could send out was very, very, very few and far between and the mail we got was very, very few and far between from home, you know? We were lucky if we got a letter in a month. I've still got my mother's letter yet at home, that she sent to me. I've still got a letter from - an airmail letter - and I've still got it in a frame at home, yeh? And that letter travelled in Burma with me in my tunic pocket, yeh? Aye.<br /> <br /> Mary: I think parents were very proud of their families...<br /> <br /> Donnie: They were.<br /> <br /> Mary: ...going into the services and fighting for their country but at the same time they were worried sick.<br /> <br /> Donnie: But they must have had an awful worrying time of it. They must have had - they didn't know whether their family were living or whether they were dead, you know?<br /> <br /> Interviewer: What do you think of wars now?<br /> <br /> Mary: They haven't learn anything dear, of all that's gone before. Look at the carry on in Iraq. I do wish they'd bring our boys home; they've been out there quite long enough.