Military museum set up in a house Fabulous display in Invergowrie home
favourite item. Elizabeth responded quickly: “Hamish, definitely.” She explained that Hamish is a mannequin dressed in military gear which takes pride of place in the main museum room.
Their museum also boasts rare items - a US Civil War gun, a tunic which is around 100 years old, bed plates which identify soldiers - including John himself - and other artefacts which are part of the stories from Rorke’s Drift to the Falklands.
“Some of these are so rare, things like stable belts I am not sure are even part of the uniform any more,” John said.
“We’ve never sold anything. I am proud of that fact. We’ve bought medals, added pieces throughout the years, but never sold.”
Elizabeth added: “Some of the stories which go with the medals are quite sad.” She points out a collection which were being sold to pay for a late soldier’s funeral. “They would have been split up but our son said to the seller that he could keep them together. They deserve to be kept like that.”
In another room a wardrobe is like an archive of military uniforms, with John’s variety of own kit, including dispatch, ‘number ones’ and ‘number twos’ from the 1950s and 1960s stored alongside sergeants’ and official dress.
“The museum gives us great pleasure. We used to have charity days here and people would look at the items. We even have a visitors’ book and you can see how much people would enjoy seeing the things,” John continued.
“We also had the Dundee recruiting centre have eight men sign up here in this room.
“Their families attended and it was an emotional moment.” Mr Hodge at home in his museum The household collection has been built up over many years