"I
was born in Glasgow at the Southern General Hospital on August 19, 1942,"
Dave said. "I had two brothers, Jack and Tom, and a sister, Mary.
My father, John Rennie Ferguson, was a First World War cavalry man. He
enlisted at the start of the war and went right through unscathed to war's
end.
"One of his most vivid memories was of the battle of Neuve Chapelle
in France, which was typical of the savagery of this war with its tragic
loss of life. Another lasting memory comes from when he spent 56 days
in the stockade for hitting a sergeant.
"Dad had fallen asleep on guard duty within sight of German lines after continuous sleepless days and nights during intense bombardments. When a tap came at his shoulder he hit out, collecting the sergeant with his rifle. It was a reflex action, but he paid the price."
The stockade was pretty tough, Dave explained, remembering his father's stories of rolling and smoking cigarettes made from horse hair and toilet paper. "Discipline was tough and cruel," Dave said. "Even their own officers lashed their own soldiers to cart wheels as a form of punishment."
During the war Dave's mother, Elizabeth, worked in Liverpool and in Edinburgh as a waitress.
"My father met my mother after the First World War in Glasgow. These were tough times. Instead of being treated like the heroes they were, they came home to be greeted by mass unemployment. Dad didn't find secure employment for a further two and half years.
"Eventually he got a job as a fitter and turner at G. & J. Weir. They were a large engineering works, providing engine parts for ships etc. He worked there for 30 odd years, until he retired.
"I grew up in happy circumstances, but we were quite low on the social economic ladder, if you know what I mean."
Before Dave left Scotland he had 12 years experience with the RAF as a radio technician.
