“IN a common grave which had been opened in a cemetery in the neighbourhood of the Clydeside town which was raided by Nazi airmen on Thursday and Friday nights, unidentified victims, many of them little children, were buried yesterday afternoon. The bodies, wrapped in white shrouds covered with Union Jacks, were transported in five large vans to the cemetery, where policemen acted as pall-bearers.” Thus did the Glasgow Herald of Tuesday, March 18, 1941, report the funerals of some of the 528 victims of the Clydebank Blitz. Tom Johnston, Secretary of State for Scotland, described it as “a grim attack on the homes of the people as severe as any that has been suffered by any area in Britain.” He spoke of the efforts to apply “first-aid repairs” to those houses that hadn’t been destroyed. Lord Rosebery, Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence, paid tribute to the community spirit and said that the “most energetic steps” had been taken to restore normal life. Some £10,000 had been allocated from the National Air Distress Fund to relieve distress on Clydeside. One elderly woman had refused to leave: she had the use of a habitable kitchen during the day and spent the night in an air-raid shelter. At the graveside Mr Johnston was joined by, amongst others, David Kirkwood, MP for Dumbarton Burghs. The foreman grave-digger had himself had the experience of being bombed out of his home.
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