Preamble ...
... postamble?
Uncle Hughie.
Seen as this site's aboot Scotland's People, mebbe it's time tae let the real folk come up tae the front. No thame that's got money, or wis born in a fancy hoose. Jist the or'nary folk that left th'r mark whaur it coonts - in the he'rts n minds o us that's still aroond.
Uncle Hughie wis a Communist. Ah kin that's no fashionable these days, but Hughie wis a believer. Born in the coal toons o Fife, in Denbeath when it wis a village 'nd no jist a bit o Methil, Hughie shairly fund his cause. Communism wis taught b' a grannie in the Methilhill cottages, and wur sair fur a bit equality and comradeship.
Of coorse, man bein the kind o person that he is, he turned Communism into summit fur his ain benefit, and an awfy lot of folk suffered cause o it. And in time, it a' fell doon, and better fur it.
But as ah sayed, Hughie wis a believer. He worked fur the "cause", drew pictchers fur the Daily Worker, wrot articles fur the p'pers. Ah suppose he wis wan o thame whit Stalin ca'd " useful fools". Wan thing wis certain. If the gemme hid gaun th' ither wey, he wid probably been wan the first t' get the the big elby when the Commissars took ow'r.
It didne happen that wey. And yer thinkin that Hughie didne 'mount to much. Ye'd be wrang! Hughie jined the International Brigade, and focht in Spain aginst the Fascists. Years afore the rest o us got roond tae it. A brave man. And yet, he wisne a hawk. When he wis commandin a squadron o tanks, he yased them to cirry civilians. Famelies, bairns, refugees. He helped them get awa fae the advancin enemy. So when a big, fit felly jumped up on the tank, he telt him tae get aff. "I'm Ernest Hemingway", the felly sayed. "Ah dae gie a ****!", says Hughie. "If y' dae get doon, ah'll shoot ye!" He maybe didnae dae much fur literature but ye kin fund his name on the memorial.
TO HONOUR THE MEMORY OF
THOSE WHO WENT FROM THE LOTHIANS AND FIFE TO SERVE
IN THE WAR IN SPAIN
1936-1939
NOT TO A FANFARE OF TRUMPETS
NOR EVEN THE SKIRL O THE PIPES
NOT FOR THE OFFER OF A SHILLING
NOR TO SEE THEIR NAMES UP IN LIGHTS
THEIR CALL WAS A CRY OF ANGUISH
FROM THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE OF SPAIN
SOME PAID WITH THEIR LIVES IT IS TRUE
THEIR SACRIFICE WAS NOT IN VAIN
We like to remember him in anither wey. In his hoose, there wis a pictcher on the wa'. Mah sister asked auntie Jeannie "Wha's the man in the pictcher?". Auntie Jeannie's quick reply wis "That's yur Uncle Joe!". Noo that ah've done a bit o this geneology, we realise that Joe Stalin wisne really mah dad's brither.
Hughie's gone noo. His ashes are scattered in the fields o Catalunya. The sojer's hame noo.
