Waiting for release of‘kilties’

No fewer than 620 members of the A&SH were prisoners of war in Germany, the Observer reported. With Armistice being signed a `speedy release’ was expected. Parcels of food and clothing were still to be sent out to them pending the announcement of a definite date for their homecoming.

`That’s when our kilties will be able to wipe the dust of Hunland from off their feet for good,’ added the paper.

*** With the partial relaxation of lighting restrictions, introduced during the war, many Stirling merchants had spent time since the Armistice scraping paint from the windows of their shops. The windows had been obscured to cut down light from buildings during the scare over possible Zeppelin attacks. However, despite the relaxing of the wartime rules, shops were still unable to bathe their displays with light because of fuel shortages.

*** With tongue firmly in cheek, the Observer remarked that the end of the war had led to an increase in the number of `brave’ people going about the town. One had turned up at the National Services Department in the Public Hall, the day after the Armistice was signed, and said he wanted to enlist as he had never much liked the Germans and `wanted to have a slap at them’. When it was `gently suggested’ he might have come a little earlier, he ignored the innuendo and said he would never be satisfied until he had done his bit. `It’s a free trip to Berlin you want’ was the parting retort as he was shown the door,’ the paper added.

*** The issue of the Observer, which came out on November 12, 1918, and featured news of the Armistice, must have had a bumper sale. According to the paper, many in Stirling bought an extra copy so they would have a souvenir of the news of the coming of peace following four years of war.