My father, Douglas Haig McCreath, was born in Hutchesontown, Glasgow on 19 February 1917. His given names were a reflection of the then popularity of Field Marshall Douglas Haig, the British Force’s commander-in-chief during the Somme battle.
As was common in working class families at the time he left school aged 14, immediately gaining employment in the Bridgeton area with Andrew Cochrane Ltd; a then Glasgow-wide chain of Grocers.
He worked with Cochrane’s until he was ‘called-up’ to the 7th Cameronians. His Service Record gives his date of enlistment as 17 January 1940, at the age of 22.
My father met my mother, Janet Rintoul Lawson Haggart (born 1923), when his Regiment, the 7th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), was posted to Bridge of Allan. They met at a dance in the Museum Hall in 1940.
For at time he was deployed in the Regimental Aid Post – located in Craigievar In Henderson Street (now divided into three flats (83A, B, and C Henderson Street)
