My name is Ann Griffiths and I'm conducting this interview on Monday the 15th of May with
Jean McMurdo on behalf of the Penelon's Camp project. Thank you Jean for allowing me to
come to your home to interview you. Would you like to confirm your name?
Yes, my name is Jean McMurdo.
Would I ask your age? I'm 91 and your date of birth, not your date of birth, your year of birth.
1926. Thank you very much Jean.
What's your connection to Penelon's Camp project?
My connection to Penelon's project is really through a memory of my mother.
I was born and brought up in New Cumnock and Miller Road in New Cumnock to be
precise in a little bungalow that my mother and father had had built
and it was over the hedge from what used to be
New Cumnock. Tennis court, the bowling green was there and is still there
but the tennis court ceased to exist a long long time ago
and do you want me to go on tell you what my memory is?
You can carry on. All right. At that time I had left school and was working
in the Minister of Labour office in Kilwining. I was in Dixon, Kilwining and
came home at weekends only and when I came home at weekends I always
heard the story of the prisoners of war who came
Monday to Friday to work. Now I don't know what that means. I don't
know what they were doing but they came to work
in what used to be the tennis courts. They were ferried up there every day
from Penelon's Camp and it was a group of prisoners of war there. I don't even
know how many there were but my mother kept talking about these
poor boys far away from home and there were somebody's boys she would say
and my mother who was mother if decided that she would see what she could do
for them and of course rations were still imposed in.
She didn't have a lot to spare but what she could spare
she shared with the boys across the hedge and it fell to one particular
prisoner of war whose name was Emil Eisler to come
to the other side of the hedge and get the big great big teapot of tea
and the plate of whatever she had managed to
scrape up from her rations. From her rations right and she developed a
relationship with Emil which surprised me no end because
my mother couldn't speak German and Emil couldn't speak English or even
Scottish but somehow or other the pair of them
developed a very worn relationship as Emil took the
teapot and the goodies over and brought the empties
back to her. Now these were stories as far as I
was concerned because the prisoners of war didn't come at the weekend when I
was home and it wasn't really until
after the war when it must have been after the war when Emil went home to
Germany and letters started to come over from him.
He was always expressed his gratitude it never would forget this this lady who
was so kind to him and well here was a quandary
my mother couldn't read what he was saying my mother couldn't write back to him
but in my comic academy days I managed to get this little higher German
which allowed me to translate and to write the letters back to Emil and
these letters went on for quite a while. I remember
I remember one of the letters saying one of the first ones saying
he knew of course that I was writing on my mother's behalf
and he said that the letters were written in very proper German
that would be school textbook German
and I I didn't know whether to be chuffed or not I took it as being a wee bit
of a compliment because at least he knew what I was saying
the letters went on for quite a wee while and then
we got a very sad letter from his family saying Emil had died
and that was the end of that but it was happy thoughts of how
a Scottish lady could make great friends with a German prisoner of war
when neither of them could exchange a word that was understandable
so that's the connection with Penelence, only simply
that that's where he was billeted. I mean that's lovely Jean
there are so many stories about friendships have been
set up between people who had different thoughts and different ideas
you say about you you wrote back and forth
to Germany whereabouts in Germany? That's what I'm saying I can't remember
you don't remember? No it's away in the midst of that
it really it was just something of interest to me
it wasn't really it was very important to my mother
wasn't it important to me because I didn't have a picture
of Amy I'd never met him so there were no photographs
there were no photographs so as a person I just had to imagine who he was
and of course I was young at the time I was much more interested in
in the male inhabitants of Ayrshire without bothering about German prisoners
of war who just happened to be here so I'm sorry I can't give you I do regret it
I wish I had even some of the letters but the letters were never mine
they were never mine and I certainly didn't fall in with them when
my mother was an old lady but you know she spoke about Emil
all the rest of her life. Emil became very important to her
I think because he represented all the people we knew from our village and new
cabinet who were serving abroad somewhere
and I think in her mind she thought if I do that
for these boys maybe somebody will do that for our boys
yes and it showed too and well you can't say was futile it's always for a
purpose but people are throwing into it
they don't choose to go to war Emil didn't choose to fight for Germany
I got to the stage when I think about Emil I used to say they should put all
these national leaders in a field and let them slug it out
it would save a lot of people from great misery
wouldn't it from losing their life losing limbs losing their life
losing loved ones? That is very interesting Jean and I'm sure that it
will be very well received when it's it's filed and
another memory another little part of the jigsaw
of how people get together even though there's communication
difficulties so thank you very much this morning
Despair on
Espire no Pleja!
