My name is Joseph J.Brown I was born on the 7th December 1924 at 63 Omoa Road in the village of Cleland in Lanarkshire. I was educated at St Mary's school in the village and in 1935 successfully passed the entrance examination to Motherwell Higher Grade school when I was 11 years old. The years up to 1939 had seen tremendous preparation for war, aeroplanes were to be seen most days on training flights, factories in Motherwell and other towns were being camouflaged. At school we had each been issued with a gas mask in a cardboard box which had a string to hang round your neck, it was supposed to be compulsory to carry them but we soon got fed up dragging them everywhere with us so they were left at home and by December 1939 they were chucked in a drawer and never used again. We never had any practice in their use. LATER... I can clearly remember listening to Radio Warsaw on that fateful day when Paderewski the Polish pianist and prime minister played the piano "Chopin's Polonaise" and continued to play until the city had fallen and the radio fell silent. The British and French Governments had issued Hitler with an ultimatum stating he had to withdraw from Poland by the 3rd September, as this did not happen war was declared by Neville Chamberlain on Sunday 3rd September 1939. << less