UK Scotland (1)

>> My name is Alexander Ferguson, known as Sandy. I was in Korea during the Korean War from 1951 for 2 years. I was with Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers doing recovering, recovering tanks and suchlike and were based in various places: Incheon, Seoul, Daegu, a number of places. And there is such a tremendous friendliness about the South Korean people, who were so kind to us. I can't ... Anything else? >> Well, so when you went to Korea, what do you remember? >> I remember the fact that [INAUDIBLE]. I hadn't seen those before, and the oxen who'd carry, were pulling carts about, and the A-frames the gentlemen the gentlemen were carrying about, [INAUDIBLE], and the roads, the condition of the roads. They seemed to be years and years behind the times at that time. I don't mean to seem unkind, but it did seem very, very behind times then. I'm so pleased to see how Korea has come on now. In fact, I drive a Korean car. I remember different instances, rescuing tanks and backloading vehicles in Incheon to go to Japan when we agreed it was beyond local repair. And meeting the various different sections of the army, and different ones did different things, such as RASC. We saw them doing their work, supplying stores and things, the engineers building bridges and ourselves recovering and repairing vehicles. I can't think of much else at the moment. >> Well, what do you think about the Scottish contributions in the war? Not a lot of people know about it. >> Well, there were a lot of Scottish people in the regiments, in the infantry regiments there, which we're very proud of, but I wasn't with any infantry, although we did rescue vehicles from Gloucester Valley. It was known as Gloucester Valley after ... There was quite a large battle there. The army were called the Glorious Glosters. Yeah. Scottish people were ... There were only a few Scotsmen in there, in our unit. I think there was three Scots in it, and there aren't as many people in Scotland as there are in England in any case, but we ... Scotland was well represented in the infantry units. I think that's all I can think about at the moment. >> How did the war impact your life when you came back? >> When we came back, we got about 3 months leave of absence when we came back because we had only 5 days in Tokyo while we were ... All the time we were in Korea, we had only 5 days R and R, and we went to Tokyo and to Ginza Street and Ebisu Hotel, as they called it then, but that was a nice 5 days. And after we came back home, we came back in the [INAUDIBLE], having gone to Korea on the Empress of Australia, came back in the [INAUDIBLE], and I wasn't back very long until I got malaria which is apparently because tablets weren't taken aboard the ship, so they say. Anyway, I think just about everybody on that ship, all the troops in that ship, caught malaria, and it came back once after that and has been away ever since. I had about a year to serve after I came back which I served in Scotland which was the first time I had ever served in Scotland, in Stirling, and I didn't do a lot of distant driving, really, and I rode motorbikes for the units. I represented the unit in the Scottish Six Day Motorbike Trials. Needless to say, I didn't win. I didn't get anywhere, and then when I left the army altogether, I worked initially in a garage, and then eventually I had my own business making and selling carpets, and I then retired. >> Have you been back to Korea? >> No, I haven't. My wife and I would have liked to have gone, and I keep thinking we should go, but some of the cruise ships ... We've been on a number of cruises. Some of the cruise ships call in Korea. It's only for a day, and I am told I should go with a group. I don't know. It's quite a flight out there, but it's quite a long flight, whereas if you're cruising then you're whole [INAUDIBLE]. That's ... Our next cruise is at the end of April to Fort Lauderdale and then somewhere and then Bermuda and back home. We really should ... We should have gone or should go, but I don't know. Maybe I'm getting too old. I'm sorry about this. >> How old are you? >> Eighty-six. >> Eighty-six! >> Eighty-six last week. >> So you were ... >> The day after Robert Burns. >> So you were 22 when you went to Korea? >> I was 20. >> Twenty? >> Twenty, yeah, 19 or 20. >> Nineteen. >> I had my 21st birthday in Korea. >> Oh. What was that like? >> It was good. A American camp just along the road made me a birthday cake which was very nice, and my mother sent one which we didn't get for quite a long time because of the [INAUDIBLE] and so on. >> She sent a cake? >> She sent a cake, yeah. >> And you got it? >> Yeah, yeah. >> By the time you got it, wasn't it rotten? >> No. No. Put the right stuff in there, it'll keep for a long time. >> Wow. That must have been nice. >> And then of course in Korea we had to get used to the wons for currency, the Korean wons, and the British Army [INAUDIBLE], as I recall, if you spent any army money in [INAUDIBLE] or EX, or somewhere like that, but the Korean won currency, it ... Well, 1,000 won wasn't worth anything at all. A thousand won at that time would be worth about 25 pence in UK money today. I can't think of anything else, Hannah. >> Okay. That's okay. Well, what did you ... Did you ever meet civilians in Korea? >> Meet who? >> Civilians, Korean people? >> Oh, yes. Yes. There was a little houseboy that came with us, and we would [INAUDIBLE]. I went down, did what we were going to do and came back, and the American military police wouldn't let the little boy back over. They said, "You've got to stay south." And I said, "His parents are north." He said, "It doesn't make any difference. Everybody has got to stay south," and we felt really bad about this. So we told the wee boy, "Just go down the road and stay there, and we'll come back for you." So we went, and we went back there with two trucks, and we picked him up in the smaller truck and took him further down the road a bit, and then we came to the large truck, and we put him inside the big locker in the truck and shut the lid, and then we came back and crossed, and the American MPs looked inside and all over, and, "That's all right. We'll let us through," and he'd gotten back to his parents which he was very pleased about. >> Well, you know that the war never ended, right? >> Pardon? >> The Korean War never ended. >> Yeah, that's right. >> What do you think about that? The two Koreas are separated ... >> That's right. >> ... still divided. >> It's terrible. It's ... That idiot in North Korea, it's absolutely terrible. >> Well, I hope that in your lifetime the two Koreas will be united. >> I hope so, Hannah. I really hope so. We met a Korean, North Korean, lady once, and we gave her some breakfast or something, and somebody wasn't really pleased. Some of the South Koreans weren't pleased about this. They said, "Don't you realize that she's North Korean?" I said, "Well, she was hungry," and that was it. But ...