Harris resident shares his birthday with VE Day
Donald Morrison was 97 on this year’s anniversary
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has sent birthday wishes to Second World War veteran Donald Morrison, who celebrated his 97th birthday on Friday, sharing his special day with Victory in Europe Day for the 75th time, writes Mark Entwistle.
Mr Morrison was born in Molinginish, Harris on May 8, 1923. He attended school there, along with his older siblings Murdo and Katy.
He left school at age 14 to work with his father on a fishing boat until he joined the Merchant Navy on March 3, 1943, joining the ship Empire Diplomat at Kyle of Lochalsh.
He was home on leave from the Merchant Navy on May 8, 1945, when Britain’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill, announced that the war was over.
That day he had left Molinginish early morning and was walking to Tarbert on route to Stornoway to visit his mother in hospital. At Sunnyhill near Tarbert he met some jubilant school children who told him the school was on holiday as the war was over.
Mr Morrison continued his bus trip to Stornoway and recalls on his return journey seeing bonfires lit all along the way into Tarbert and on the hillside at Direcleit, above Tarbert.
He walked home from Tarbert to Molinginish and on reaching had a celebratory dram with his father and brother Murdo, who had been a prisoner-of-war for five years.
After the war, Mr Morrison continued life at sea until he met his wife Mary, who comes from Kershader in South Lochs. They got married in Southport on October 28, 1953, and moved back to Harris where they have spent their entire married life. They have five children, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Mr Morrison’s daughter, Peggy Morrison, explained that he still managed to celebrate in style despite the current restrictions: ‘My father celebrated his 97th birthday at home with my mother on Friday.
‘Jasmine, one of his great-grandchildren, baked him a birthday cake and along with her brother Benjamin sang him some birthday songs while maintaining social distancing.’