Photo of Sandy holding his carbide lamp that he had as a youngster for his bicycle. When he left the UK for Canada he didn't take it with him however on returning in 1955 he went to find it and it was gone. He was in a pub one evening and stood up and asked if anyone had a carbide lamp, one gentleman said he had two and would bring them to the pub the following evening.
The next evening sure enough the man brought them and Sandy immediately saw that this man had his bike lamp and found out that his father sold both to the gentleman. The man told Sandy he would not give it to him but would sell it to him so Sandy paid him 15 pounds which to me sounds like a big price for this lamp in 1955.
Sandy told us today he used the lamp to "poach" salmon on a river he lived near as he in no way could afford the fee to fish legally that the man who owned the rights to the river would want. Seems Sandy used that light a lot as he did a fair amount of salmon poaching over time. Must say Sandy had a bit of a grin on his face as he told Cass and I the story.
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When I told Ian we were going to visit his father again he replied to be sure to ask him about the "cigarette case" which we did about a half hour after we arrived this morning. This case was carried by Sandy throughout the war and if you look carefully you will see where he scratched into it names of cities/towns where he fought. What a great piece of history this case is and it rests along with other items in a wood case Sandy had constructed.
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I want to tell you Sandy was really surprised at the number of views this thread has received and also the comments about him, he had a tear in his eye as he is a very humble man and in his eyes was only doing a job that needed to be done. Again his recollection of events was mind boggling and we spent a couple of hours of good conversation and him showing us photos including one with his best friend Jim who lost his life while serving with the British early in WWII. You could feel the sadness in his voice when he told us of what happened to Jim, you could tell just how close those two were.
It was another great visit and we will be going back again, we are happy he enjoys our company. He is a fine man with a great soul.
