Macaulay Morrison Family
The Past & Present
My History
I was born in Glasgow Scotland, the youngest of a family of seven children. When I was six years old, my father died. I can remember him quite well. To make things worse for the family, it was the years of the depression. The older boys had finished learning their trades but could not find work. My mother knew Father MacDonnell, a priest who worked with the department of immigration helping bring families to Canada. Through him my mother was able to arrange for us to immigrate to Canada. This was in 1927.
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By Neil Joseph Macaulay
The ship we came on was the “Marlock”. After leaving Glasgow it called at the Outer Hebrides to pick up people. Those people became our friends for many years.
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It was a very rough trip so most of the people got seasick. Donald, who was to be a sailor, was the worst in our family. In later years he told us that even when he was on shore on leave he would still be sick. So you can imagine what a hard life it was for him.
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We landed in Halifax. There we got on a train and started on the long trip out to Red Deer Alberta where Father MacDonnell had a row of cottages built to receive most of us. Other stayed at what used to be an Indian school. He also brought out a school teacher, Moriag Morrison. She was able to get a room in the Indian building to make a classroom. Marion and myself went to it.
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Something that may be of interest to you the reader is the fact that while staring staying in the “cottages” we experienced the worst hailstorm storm Red Deer had in many years. It lasted about one half hour. After it was over we went outside and picked up some hailstones. They were as big as eggs. They broke the windows on one side of the cottage we were staying in. At the back of the cottages there was a field of rye standing about four feet high. After the hailstorm you could not pick up a piece of straw more than a few inches long!
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While staying at the cottages the older boys went to work for farmers in the Lacombe area in Alberta. The idea was for them to learn farming. They would come home on weekends and join in on all the visiting at the cottages.
When the C.P.R. put the railroad through they were given large tracts of land. Father MacDonnell managed to make a deal with them to settle the land with people from the U.K. He got some stores to open up north of Vermilion, Alberta. The colony and the town he called Clandonald. The small families were settled on quarter sections of land, the large families had a half section. We being a large family were put on half section. It was the farthest west of the colony land. The Edwards and the O'Connors each had quarter section. This made up the section of land. We were friendly to each other. Mrs. O'Connor would come to visit Mammy very often and before she left would always borrow “a wee bit of sugar and a wee bit of tea”!
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When war broke out, John Angus, Mammy, and myself were on the farm. The Cameron Highlanders in Ottawa wanted a band so ask the Pipe Band at Saint Andrews to join up with them. This left just Mammy and myself on the farm. The farm was too much for me to handle and being young I wanted to join the army. John Angus came home on leave and we talked it over and decided to sell the farm. We did, and Mammy went to stay with Marion and Roy in Hamilton. I wanted to join up all on my own so as we had friends in Winnipeg (Roy Ellsworth), I went up there. After getting rested up I went down to the Armory and joined up. I was sent to Fort William for basic training. Six weeks after that we were given an aptitude test. I did well, they told me, so was put in Signals and was sent to Kingston Ontario for advanced training. This took another six weeks, as far as I remember! After that I was put on draft. I was sent to Halifax and from there went overseas in convoy. The escort would be dropping depth charges all night on hearing subs. It was hard to sleep and we kept our life jackets beside the bed.
On landing in England I was stationed at Weybridge, twenty miles from London. I used to get a pass every weekend and go up and stay at MacClays (people that Angus got to know). This is where I slept in Lord lovat’s bed! This was the time of the bombing of London. Many a time I was caught on the street and would run to the nearest air raid shelter.
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While stationed in England, although I was not in on the landing on “D” Day, being in Signals I was in on the “secret” of it. While stationed at Weybridge the Germans knew something big was being planned so planted spies all over to try to find out what it was. Two corps were in on the camouflage part of it. We were put on a scheme to act as camouflage and confuse the German spies. The spy would see a few of us with Sigs flashes on their sleeves so would start sending beer over to our table to get us ready to talk and answer questions. We would wait until they went to the toilet and then rush out the door!
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The next thing that may be of interest to you the reader is how things were on “D plus nine” the time that I landed in France. At that time two corps were stationed at Weybridge twenty kilometers from London. We left in convoy, I as usual did not drive my Jeep but the big store truck. It was the time of the bombing of London so we were attacked by German bombers. In this we lost a few men and trucks. When being bombed we would stop and run for the ditch and stay there until they left. Cargo ships were waiting for us at the dock so we drove right on to them. We went down into the hold with our vehicles and stayed there for the crossing. The convoy lost a few ships during the crossing.
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I have been asked to write about how things were when landing in France on “D plus nine”. We left Weybridge where we were staying in convoy, went down to Dover and drove right on to our ship, “The Earl of Montcalm”. I have told about the crossing, this is about how I found things in France at that time.
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When we reach the beach eight miles from Ceon, us drivers of vehicles were told to go down into the hold and start our motors. We did and very soon the hatch opened and the crane lifted us out one at a time. With the gas pedal to the floor, we were dropped into the water. Our vehicles were all “waterproofed” but the water was up to my belly button so I kept praying that the waterproofing would hold!
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At the first crossroad, a Canadian Provost stood directing us to the de-waterproofing area. From there we were told how to get to the area marked out for the setup of our Signal Office. The communications section at once started to lay lines to all units, Canadian and British, under Montgomery's command. This is where I installed the phone for “Monty”. After I had it installed, I asked them to phone someone to test it. He did and with a big smile on his face he put down the receiver and said “Thanks, Canada”! You may be sure I walked out of there a very proud Canadian!
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It was during this time that I developed ulcers and went days without eating a decent meal.
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The next thing that may be of interest to you is that being in Sigs we knew when the Armistice was being signed. When it was, we of 2nd Corps were on our way up to Oldenberg, Germany. People were standing at the side of the road shouting “The war is over!” so it was a happy trip.
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As soon as we set up camp I could not stand the pain any longer so went on sick parade. The doctor took one look at me and said, “You sit right there. I will send for your kit. You are going to hospital.”
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I was put in the 24 General Military Hospital and managed to get milk and eggs to eat so soon gained back my strength. It was while in there that I got word about Peter. I was so mad I shouted, God damn the war!” Some of the men came over to my bed so I told them. They went right down and got passes and took me down to a little pub we used to go to. They told the lady the news I had. She came over to me and said, “ I know how you feel, we just had word a few weeks ago that our oldest son was killed in Italy too.”
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How long I was in there I cannot recall, but it was from there I went down to the dock and came home to Canada on the “Lady Nelson”, a hospital ship. I managed to be able to tell Inez, who I had been writing to all the time I was overseas, when we would be passing through Ottawa. She came down but had a hard time finding me among all the stretcher cases. But we managed a short time together. I told her I would write from Calgary where my mother was staying with John Angus and make plans. Inez had been going to “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” parish in Ottawa so she wanted to get married from there, so we did. We did not want a big Honeymoon trip so we just went to Windsor to visit Marion and Roy who were living there at that time. I told Roy that I was looking for a job so he took me down to Otis Vinson Elevator Company where he worked. The boss turned me down, said I was too small for the heavy lifting. I heard Ford’s was taking on men so I went straight down there. The manager interviewing me asked, “When would you like to start?” I said, “Right now!” He gave me a slip to have free lunch so I did and then reported to the foreman on the line. He put me at putting on tires on one side of the car. This is heavy work so he changed me to driving vehicles off the line. They were the last of the vehicles made. It was later that I drove the first civilian Ford off the line. They took pictures of it. Some of the family have visited the Windsor plant and have told me that the picture of it is still there.
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Doris at that time was the Nurse at Crane. The plant was on Saint Patrick St. in Montreal. She wrote me and told me they were taking on men. She said they would give me a job. I went up to Montreal and got started in Crane’s. The first job I got was testing fittings in the Inspection Department. Al Cheeseman was the foreman. One day he came to me and told me Henry Bonn, his clerk, was leaving. Did I think I could handle the job? I said, “Sure!”, so he took me into the office. There was a lot of typing to do so I registered for a typing course in McGill or Sir George Williams I think. I did master touch-typing and became quite fast at it.
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The plant on Saint Patrick St was getting old and with the political situation in Quebec very bad- wanting all business done in French, the company decided to move to Ontario. I could have gone with them but I had just bought the place in Saint Laurent and Peter was in school. Inez and I talked it over and decided to stay in Montreal. I had to get a job of course so Inez got in touch with a man from Apple Hill, Don McKinnon. He was a personnel manager for Seaway Storage so I got the job of carrier with them. They had nine storage areas in different parts of Montreal. My job was to bring them shipping orders and the boss, Don Cameron, would ask me to check different things. In the summer time it was a nice job and I had the car for my own use on weekends. In winter it was a different story, fighting the bad streets and traffic jams all over. Sometimes it would be after midnight before I got home. You can imagine how hard this job was on my nerves--so bad that the doctor told me to retire. Being retired took a lot of adjustment not only for me but also for Inez. Talking to other retired men, I find that they all had the same problems.
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I have finished my report, or story, no one knows what lies in the future.
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