Brandon Twp.-Catherine Morrison remembers vividly the night her home in Glasgow, Scotland was bombed by the Nazis during World War II.
Catherine’s father was out of town working, her five younger siblings were in bed, and she and her mother sat together by the fireplace as the bombs fell around them. Suddenly, it was silent.
‘Mom said, ‘Run, Catherine, run,?? recalls Morrison. ‘Everything fell in around the house except the hallway. Blood was running down my brother’s face. I told him he would be OK.?
Windows on one side of the house had blown out, while on the other side they had blown in. The walls were cracking, dishes were broken and everything was pitch black. They got the mattress from the bedroom and her siblings went back to bed.
Morrison’s mother sent her to check on their neighbor, Mrs. O’Connor. Outside, incendiary bombs that landed in the garden had begun multiple fires. Morrison looked up at the planes overhead, close enough for her to see the swastikas on them.
‘I was standing there, fascinated, and someone said, ‘Don’t stand there looking, stupid, do something!?? remembers Morrison. ‘I said, ‘What?? He said, ‘Put the fires out!??
Morrison used her hands to scoop dirt to throw on the fires. She then climbed over bricks to check on Mrs. O’Connor. She found her sitting under her kitchen sink, alone. Morrison told her neighbor their family was fine and that she was going to make some tea.
‘She told me, ‘I’m staying here until Hitler is finished,?? laughs Morrison.
She returned to her house, where her mother asked her where she had been. Morrison responded that she’d been putting out bombs and was now going to make tea.
‘She told me she could use a cup,? smiles Morrison, sitting in another, much different looking kitchen now, more than 60 years later. ‘I was cooking with gas and I didn’t know it, but I could have blown us to Timbuktu. Luckily, the pipes weren’t fractured, so I made tea.?
Morrison says the war flattened one end of Glasgow. She would leave Scotland around 1952 for Canada when she was young and newly married because there was no building going on in Scotland at that time, she says, and it was difficult to find housing.
‘People don’t realize how much bombing went on in Scotland,? said Morrison, who declines to reveal her age. ‘Financially, Britain was very broke. Canada offered to pay your way over if you signed on with one of several companies.?
Morrison and her first husband, Peter, both went to work for an iron ore company for two years and then moved to Cleveland in 1955. Her first job in the United States was with an electronics company, typing a new code book.
One of the first differences she noticed between America and her native country was the spelling of words.
‘They spelled labour l-a-b-o-r,? she says. ‘I said, ‘They don’t do anything proper here.? They misspell everything. The next thing I noticed was people didn’t differentiate between possessive nouns and plurals.?
Morrison would learn another difference the hard way. She once threw out three pounds of meat trying to cook it the way she had in Scotland, but because the meat is butchered differently here, it needed to be cooked differently, too.
She wasn’t sad to not be in Scotland anymore, however.
‘I’ve always been adventurous and it gave me the freedom to go,? says Morrison, who gave birth to a son, David Allen, while living in Cleveland. ‘I liked America right away. I was right at home. Everything was so plentiful after years of rationing. Opportunities abound.?
Morrison obtained U.S. citizenship, but returned to Scotland in 1962 at the behest of her husband. They later divorced and she returned to Cleveland in 1978 with her son. She married Tom Morrison, an American, in 1983 and they went to Scotland for three months. He wanted to stay.
‘Scotland is a beautiful country,? says Morrison. ‘Scots are very hospitable, very friendly and welcoming. My husband would ask for directions, and they would offer to take him there and tell you places to stop for a meal.?
She recalls that while she never had trouble understanding the American accent, she thought it was funny that some of the Scots had trouble understanding her husband.
Morrison notes the public transportation in Scotland is very good for city dwellers. There was not as much variety in food when she lived in Scotland as in the United States, but she believes the gap has closed, although there is a bigger selection of ethnic dishes here, with a greater mix of nationalities in the U.S. The weather remains very different.
‘Seventy-six degrees is a heat wave in Scotland,? says Morrison. ‘We don’t have as much snow in the winter. It rains more.?
When Morrison’s husband died in 1996, she moved to Chicago with her son and a year later, moved to Brandon Township with him where she has stayed ever since. She has not returned to Scotland since 1983.
‘I’m proud to be an American,? says Morrison. ‘I never look back. Americans are very generous. They just give as soon as the need arises. I’ve always said that is wonderful about Americans and it’s wonderful to be one of them.?