War hero remembered by his former university
A GLASGOW University student who was a Second World War aviator has been remembered through a bequest to help researchers.
Hugh Harvey Mooney became the first in his working-class family to attend university.
It had been a long road for Hugh, 27, from his home in Glasgow’s Garscube Road to Glasgow University.
A gifted linguist and scholar, he had been accepted to the university in 1932. However, with the Great Depression taking hold in Scotland, it took Hugh seven years to be able to afford to take up his place to study French and Latin.
But with only a year of studying completed, Mooney left Glasgow to join the Second World War – training first as a pilot and then as a navigator. He died in the Netherlands along with four of his fellow aircrew when their Lancaster bomber crashed.
Now, nearly 80 years after he enrolled at Glasgow, his memory is being honoured by his family as they help students and early career researchers attend a conference on conflict archaeology.
The event is being organised by Conflict History and Archaeology PhD researchers Euan Loarridge and Hugh’s great-nephew Marc Conaghan. Mr Conaghan is the first member of his family since his great-uncle to go to Glasgow University.
Mr Conaghan said: “Uncle Hughie was like a father to my grandfather. I grew up listening to my grandfather tell stories about his uncle, many centred on their shared love of football.
“I can remember my grandfather walking me along the River Kelvin and looking up towards the University of Glasgow and saying, ‘Uncle Hughie was the first to go there, and you should be the second’. I think my grandfather would have been proud that he is still remembered by his university and that I am studying here.”