Interview with Walter Oliver, 5th September 2017
Walter Oliver was born near to Stobs in 1942 and grew up there during the Second World War. His grandparents had also been at the camp during the First World War. Listen here to Walter reminisce about what it was like living at Stobs:
Part 1: “Sometimes we’d have two, three or four German PoWs up in the house at night sitting round the fire”
Part 2: “They used to make toys for us at Christmas”
Part 3: “In the First World War my two aunties used to be met by soldiers and escorted through the camp”
Part 4: “Most of the people that lived around about Stobs worked on the railway”
Part 5: “My uncle helped the German PoWs cart the stones up for the memorial”
Part 6: “We were going to get some coal ‘cause everybody was freezing”
Part 7: “A big helicopter landed there and Prince Philip got out”
Part 8: “There was a soldier got drowned in the top loch”
Part 9: “We were always told when they were going on night patrols”
Part 10: “We used to watch the tanks practice with their flamethrowers”
Part 11: “My Grandfather started off building the place and my Dad finished up pulling it down!”
Part 12: “Some of the cemetery headstones were starting to crumble”
Part 13: “A lot of the huts were bought by a dealer from Dundee”
Part 14: “We used to use the parachutes for handkerchiefs”
Part 15: “They thought it was too rugged for the troops to train there during the winter”
Part 16: “There was a little tea house just along from the station for people visiting the soldiers”
Part 17: “That’s where they used to practice with the hand grenades”
Interviewers: Ian Landles & Andrew Jepson
Transcription: Alan Brydon, Ronnie Hodgins & Andrew Jepson
Transcripts:
Part 1: Walter Oliver transcription – part 1
Part 2: Walter Oliver transcription – part 2
Part 3: Walter Oliver transcription – part 3
Part 4: Walter Oliver transcription – part 4
Part 5: Walter Oliver transcription – part 5
Part 6: Walter Oliver transcription – part 6
Part 7: Walter Oliver transcription – part 7
Part 8: Walter Oliver transcription – part 8
Part 9: Walter Oliver transcription – part 9
Part 10: Walter Oliver transcription – part 10
Part 11: Walter Oliver transcription – part 11
Part 12: Walter Oliver transcription – part 12
Part 13: Walter Oliver transcription – part 13
Part 14: Walter Oliver transcription – part 14
Part 15: Walter Oliver transcription – part 15
Part 16: Walter Oliver transcription – part 16
Part 17: Walter Oliver transcription – part 17