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Title: Interview with Peter Keiichi Nimi
Date: 2011

Title: Interview of Ian Ross : Interview
Description: Ian Simpson Ross (9 August 1930, Dundee).
He remembers growing up in the Depression and watching unemployed men line up outside the “burro” – the bureau – to get their dole money. He went to Blackness Primary, Dundee. He then received a bursary to go to Harris Academy, Dundee; he started out doing technical subjects, but was encouraged to take
Show moreIan Simpson Ross (9 August 1930, Dundee).
He remembers growing up in the Depression and watching unemployed men line up outside the “burro” – the bureau – to get their dole money. He went to Blackness Primary, Dundee. He then received a bursary to go to Harris Academy, Dundee; he started out doing technical subjects, but was encouraged to take Latin in his third year. He didn’t pass his Higher Latin, however. He remembers being very active in Sports at school – rugby, football, golf, cricket. At 18 he was called up to do his National Service with the RAF (inspection services). He used to study in a city centre library in Dundee. His interest in Scottish history began at Harris and his interest in Scottish literature began through his reading his brother Angus’ collection of Scottish books. This was all just after the founding of the Scottish National Party in 1934. In 1950 he entered St Andrews University (he received a state grant in his first year and was then awarded a full scholarship). He studied for an MA in English Literature and graduated with First-class honours in 1954. He specialized in Elizabethan and Jacobean Literature. He was then offered the Tindal-Bruce Scholarship at Merton College Oxford (B.Litt) in 1956 and researched what happened to James VI’s court poets when James moved the Scottish court down to London. His supervisor was David Nichol Smith, the brother of George Gregory Smith, author of the influential book Scottish Writing: Character and Influence (1919). After graduating from Oxford, he applied for the Fulbright Scholarship and was accepted into the Ph.D program at the University of Texas to research several figures of the Scottish Enlightenment under the supervision of Earnest Mostner. It was in Texas that he met his wife, Maud Cardwell, who was divorced with two children. They had a daughter of their own called Eila. After graduating from the University of Texas, he decided to go to Canada, mainly due to wife’s desire to not go to UK and to be close to her two sons in America. He was offered an instructorship at the University of British Columbia and taught his speciality—18th century literature—in which he managed to “smuggle in” some Scottish philosophy and literature. He wrote books on Lord Kames, William Dunbar, and Adam Smith. He became head of the English department in 1982 before retiring in 1987.
While in Canada, he says a lot of people commented on his accent, although it was mainly positive. He went back to Scotland a few times, mainly for book research and to see his parents when they were alive. He says that a lot of people in Scotland were interested in what he was doing over in Canada and that he remembers speaking to many people who had/have relations in Canada themselves. When he returns to Scotland, he always feels drawn to it because he has a lot of family and friends there, and his interest in Scottish literature and history merely fuels this feeling. In Canada he helped organize Burns Suppers, although he stopped this in 2002 because it was getting to be too much work. He also tried to organize St. Andrew’s Day celebrations at UBC—the singing of Gaelic songs, etc.—but this didn’t work out. He still enjoys Scottish food—cockaleekie soup is mentioned—and bagpipe music. He also has a love for Scottish country dancing, and went to several such dances at UBC. His personal favourites are: “The Duke of Perth”, “The Glasgow Highlanders”, “The Eightsome Reel”, and “Strip the Willow”. He enjoys the novels of Sir Walter Scott and Lewis Grassic Gibbon, and he has read some James Kelman, Liam McIllvanny, and Liz Lochhead; but his major passion is the Scottish Makars and Scottish Ballads and Folk Songs. While in Texas, for example, he witnessed the collection of American/Mexican border ballads and American folk songs, and it reinforced his love of Scottish ballads and folk tales and songs. To close the interview, Ian sings three of his favourite ballads: “The Dundee Weaver”, “The Barnyards of Delgaty”, and “The Wee Cooper o’ Fife”. His father was called John Gibson Ross (1899, Forfar). He came from a family of eight and was a middle son: Agnes was the oldest, then William, David, then John (father), Jess, Nell, James, and Patrick. He worked in jute mills in Dundee. He left school at 12 and became a “half-timer” – that is, he spent half a day at school and half a day at the jute mills. When war broke out, he tried to join the Navy (at 16), but his father put a stop to this.... He was eventually called up at 18. He went to Stirling to train with Cameron Highlanders and was then assigned to the Seaforth Highlanders before being sent to France on March 18th, 1918. He was badly wounded after his trench was overrun; his eye was badly damaged by
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Date: 2005-02-01

Title: Interview with George Brandak
Date: 2019-05-30
Collection: BC Labour Heritage Centre Oral History Collection

Title: Interview with Kate Braid
Date: 2016-11-08
Collection: BC Labour Heritage Centre Oral History Collection

Title: Interview of William T. Strachan
Description: Jan 9 2012 William “Bill” Thomson Strachan Born: St. Fergus, Scotland on March 8, 1921. The house was built in the 1700’s. He was the oldest of 3 boys: William, Sandy? & Peter. His mom remarried after his father passed, and had 3 girls: Isabella, Sheila, & Lilas. [Step]Father: Peter Strachan. Father: William Dunbar. Born in Crimond. Grandfather:
Show moreJan 9 2012 William “Bill” Thomson Strachan Born: St. Fergus, Scotland on March 8, 1921. The house was built in the 1700’s. He was the oldest of 3 boys: William, Sandy? & Peter. His mom remarried after his father passed, and had 3 girls: Isabella, Sheila, & Lilas. [Step]Father: Peter Strachan. Father: William Dunbar. Born in Crimond. Grandfather: William Thomson. Harbour master in Peterhead. William’s great-grandfather [Thomson] died one day short of his 100th birthday. Mother: Isabella Thomson. Born in St. Fergus. Siblings: 3 sisters & 2 brothers. 1 brother moved to Australia, the other to Canada. Nobody in his family spoke Gaelic; they were Doric speakers [dialect of NE Scotland, Scandinavian roots]. William was raised as a farmboy. He went to school in Crimond. They were large classes; he went through until his Qualifying, then quit at age 12. He recalls getting the strap as discipline at school. He kept in contact with one of his former school teachers by letter when he was in the military in Singapore. He joined the military at age 17, after working on the family farm. William had a cousin who was a Regimental Sergeant Major. William later joined the Gordon Highlanders, serving in WWII. His brother was in the Royal Engineers. William didn’t want any promotion during his time in the Highlanders. He preferred the lower ranks. William was taken as a Prisoner of War in 1942, at the fall of Singapore. It was “meant to fall” to save Australia. He remembers his officer’s attitudes on the Japanese soldiers who were taking over Singapore. The Japanese military surprised them by attacking from behind, coming in on bicycles. William has two tattoos from his time in the war, before the fall of Singapore. While others would go to the brothels, he would go to get a tattoo. He was taken prisoner for several years – until the war ended in 1945. There were 1200 Gordon Highlanders captured, along with other regiments held as prisoners. They were made to build the “Death Railroad”, as they called it. The camp was in Kanchanaburi. They also built the bridge over the Mae Klong River. He remembers learning they were free – a plane landed with 12 men in uniforms they didn’t recognize. One prisoner died from the shock of being freed. A man from the plane asked William whether he remembered him, as they had met before. These men were secret service agents. Life in the POW camp was “bloody awful”. There were frequent beatings. Sometimes they would have bamboo platforms to sleep on, but other times they slept under the sky. The prisoners wore loincloths and no shoes. They were only fed rice. He learned to make rice wine, by layering it with brown sugar he stole from the Japanese. He never keeps rice in his house to this day. He tells a story of a man nodding to him, before walking into the trees nearby. He followed the man’s path, and found a dead steer. He managed to get it back to camp, and they cooked it in a big kettle into stew, which each man got to have with their rice. He remembers another time when a lion and her cub came within an arm’s length of him. At night, the prisoners had freedom of movement, because the Japanese troops were afraid to enter the jungle in darkness. William and others would venture out to Thai camps, where generous locals risked their lives by providing them with food and supplies to take back to camp. Alex Vanderleck – Dutch engineer who knew the local jungle, and showed other men what they could eat in the wild – bamboo shoots, etc. He called William “The Red Devil”, because of William’s red hair and the fact his skin would go bright red in the sun. Alex had said he was going to write a book by the same name, which William searched for after the War, and learned Alex never made it out of the camp. They walked barefoot to their work each day, sometimes up to 300 miles. The troops would push the prisoners to keep moving. The prisoners tried to make the railroad “as rough as they could”, striving to make things uneven so it would be less useful to the Japanese. The Thai government later repaired these sections after the war so it could function. William saw the fictional movie “Bridge on the River Kwai”, loosely based on the construction of the Burma railroad, and felt it was “awful”. They slaved for 15 hours a day working on the railroads; William estimates that the temperature was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. There was no thought or planning of escapes, because they knew they wouldn’t survive the snakes and other creatures in the jungle. They encountered lions and elephants while they worked. He knew one man from his regiment who just fell over and died. He was so emaciated “you could play the xylophone on his ribs”. Anyone who was caught providing aid to prisoners would be shot on the spot. Many local Thai people would give them soup and dry peanuts. There was a sergeant major who told him, “Watch what you say, a lot of them can speak English.” He later learned that man was an American living in Japan at the time of the War who had been conscripted by the Japanese military. When William and his fellow POWs were liberated, the first thing that the Allied soldiers did was provide them with pen and paper to write letters to their loved ones; however, the men had forgotten how to write properly, so it was a challenge. They came for the 12 men who were the sickest first, of which William was 1. They were flown to the hospital in Burma. One of the men’s wives flew to the hospital herself to see whether he was alive. He had to stand up and walk over to her because he was so emaciated, she couldn’t recognize him at all. William said nurses commented he looked like a “living skeleton” himself. He had been suffering from malaria and dysentery. He still suffers from malingering episodes of malaria to the time of the interview. William remembers saluting the crowd as they boarded the ship back to Britain. The skipper of the ship was told to take the 12 prisoners off, and instead, to bring 12 nurses home. He refused. They pulled into Sri Lanka, and the skipper handed them all a kit bag which they could fill with local goods for their family. William bought 2 handbags, for his sisters, and special tea for his mother. When they arrived at the British port in Southampton, there was a Japanese flag flying. The former POWs refused to disembark until it was lowered from their line of sight. William’s family didn’t know he was arriving. He took two trains to get home; 1 to Edinburgh, and another to Aberdeen. His mother didn’t recognize him when he returned to Ft. Angus. He walked in the back door, and didn’t say a word. His sisters didn’t recognize him either. He married his childhood sweetheart upon returning. He didn’t have to work upon returning, as the military paid him to support recovery. Wife: Margaret Wallace. Her brother passed away in a POW camp during the War. They were married Dec. 21st, 1945-1946? William knew he had an uncle in Canada, but didn’t know where he was; he moved here in order to locate him. Arriving with his wife, he spoke to the mayor of the town, Wakaw, Saskatchewan, and put an ad in the paper. This led to a cousin, which led to his uncle, William Thompson, living in New Westminster. He remembers his uncle Willie lived in a “cutterhouse” prior to moving to Canada. William came to Canada with his wife Margaret on a ship called the Churchill. They arrived in Nova Scotia, and took the train to Oyen, Alberta. William worked on a ranch, where he was a “cowboy”. A cook was needed at a ranch in Wakaw, and Margaret took the job, so they moved there, where William continued to ranch. He remembers learning to lasso for the first time. They moved to New Westminster, B.C. in the late 1950’s; they lived across the street from a couple. This is how he met his current wife; they got together later in life after experiencing the loss of their spouses. William worked at Swift Canadian in New Westminster, and became president of the Meat Processing Workers Credit Union. He has served as president for 20 years, and was elected for another 4 just prior to retiring from Swift. Bill Cruz was the treasurer of the Credit Union. He still keeps in contact with his sister in Scotland and her offspring. William’s mother was a farmer back in Scotland. They raised cattle and grew oats. Their farm was at least 100 acres. It had a greenhouse, where his grandfather had grown fruit. There was a lake on the property. William worked as a “horseman” during the summers on other farms, ploughing fields. Politics & religion were not issues in his family. William himself is non-religious. His family was very close. His favourite family members were the ones who lived close and came to visit for Easter. His mother would boil turkey and hen eggs for them. The trip to Canada took about a week. They knew they were moving to Canada permanently, and said goodbye to their family. He remembers his first day in Oyen, Alberta, speaking to two local German immigrants. He laughs that his Doric accent was not too different from their German accents, and they understood each other. His farm experience got him a job on the ranch. He never experienced any trouble integrating into Canada. He was struck by how big the country was when riding the train across. William’s oldest son (also named Bill) was the longest serving soldier in the Canadian military, serving 40 years before retiring. His son (William’s grandson) is now in the military as well. Children: Oldest son also named William (Bill). Son Sandy was a chef at the King Neptune. Now works as a truck driver. Daughters Sheila and Isabelle have both since passed away. Youngest daughter, Betty, is still alive and well, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. William and his second wife (Jean) were members of the Sons of Scotland. He has gone back to visit Scotland. They celebrate Robbie Burns dinners, and make & dress haggis. At the time of the interview, the Scottish Nationalist Party was calling for a referendum on Scotland’s independence from the U.K. – William says most people he knows are in support of an independent Scottish nation. He feels there’s a good chance it will come about. William was starting to learn bagpiping from a friend while he was in the military, prior to becoming a POW. He attends the Highland Games, and used to work in the Heavy events. William’s favourite part of Scottish culture is the history and the music. His favourite Scottish food is haggis, scones and oat cakes. If he could do his life over, he would join the Gordon Highlanders again, but wishes he could avoid the experience of being a POW. He remembers being handed the controls as they flew out of the camp and over “Death Railway”, which brought tears to his eyes - a “heartwarming” moment of freedom. He returned to the area with his wife Jean in the late 1970’s, as a healing trip, and rode the railway themselves. He spoke with a man who used to feed the prisoners. There are 2 pieces of writing which William wrote himself, describing War experiences in detail (from his planned memoirs). These were scanned/digitized and included with the oral history collection. His wife Jean speaks briefly about her life at the end of the tape. She worked during the War engraving the sides of bombs. Born and raised in Toronto, later moving to B.C. William speaks of meeting Diefenbaker by chance. He also met Tommy Douglas several times. He tells the story of a bombing that occurred while he was a POW. Sadly, a boxcar full of young local girls (used as sex slaves by the Japanese military) were killed.
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Date: 2012-01-09