Mrs Stelia Craigle, Finstown, and husband George were a young couple with a small child when Fair Isle light stations were bombed In 1941, as part of the German effort to disrupt coastal convoys.

Although Stella (nee Learmonth) escaped early air raids unhurt, later leaving with her young son for the comparative safety of Orkney, husband George was not so lucky.

With manned lights and shore station postings set to become a memory only, Stelia records the dark, early days of the war and the events she and her late husband witnessed at the time.

In December. 1935, I was married in my local church at Finstown to George Craigie, who was an assistant lightkeeper at Fair Isle South Lighthouse. The following week NLS Pole Star conveyed us to Fair Isle.

We settled down and found the Islanders to be a friendly people, and we very soon came to know them all, about 70 at that time.

Our baby son Ivor was born in June 1938, and from then our pleasant way of life continued until the war came.

In the summer of 1939 we returned to Orkney and found the place feverishly preparing for war.  I remember remarking if war was declared while we were on holidays we would immediately return to Fair Isle as it must be the safest place in Britain!  Little did I know what was to follow.

On September, 1, orders were received instructing the keepers not to exhibit the light until further notice.  George had the first watch that night, and at sunset we went up the tower and out on to the balcony.  As darkness gradually crept in, the scene was one I have never forgotten - there was no wind and the only sound to be heard was the gentle lap of the waves as they reached the shore.  The Impression left was that the whole world was holding its breath and waiting for something.

Relatives
Then the beat of engines came to our ears, and round the corner of Malcolm's Head appeared a blacked out ship.  From the silhouette it was possible to tell that it was one of our own North boats, on passage from Lerwick to Kirkwall.  I wanted to shout: "This is all wrong - lighthouses are guiding lights to fellow men and they should be shining forth, not blacked out."

As the weeks passed, convoys of ships, in particular those going to and fro between Britain and Russia, often passed during the night, when the lighthouse would exhibit Its beam for five minutes every half hour.  It was a secret agreed signal to allow the ships to fix their positions and the duration time would be changed from convoy to convoy to try and outwit the German submarines or U-boats.

On April 2, 1940, a Russian convoy was bombed off Fair Isle.

German planes had a distinctive sound which we soon began to recognise.   Flights of them used to pass en route for Orkney, thereby filling us with foreboding as most of our reIatives were resident there.

Hurricane
Came the summer of 1940, and time for our annual holiday. This meant crossing to Surnburgh by the island boat Good Shepherd, and getting th plane to Orkney.   This was our first air journey and the plane windows were blacked out so that photographs could not be taken.  After hitting a shallow ditch, we made a bumpy landing in a field on Wideford Farm.

On returning to Fair Isle, we found that German planes had begun to take a passing interest In our small community.  There were no air-raid warnings or shelters, so on hearing a German plane, one had to dive under a table or anything else available for protection.

Hurricane fighter planes piloted by Poles, were based at Sumburgh, and one of their victims was a German Heinkel which they encountered and shot up off Fair Isle.

It managed to reach land and came to rest in the middle of the isle.   Two of the crew were dead and one had a broken leg, but the pilot and the navigator were only slightly hurt.  A launch was dispatched from Shetland to take them away and we walked over to the slipway to see them embark.

The pilot who had been to university in England, had good English and talked to Ivor, who was aged two at that time.  By the time the launch had rounded the north of the Isle, it had to turn back as the wind had reached gale force, so we had enemy prisoners in the Naval huts overnight.

The two who had been fatally injured were buried In the little local cemetery.   Just as the funeral ended, the Poles from Sumburgh arrived and gave a victory display of acrobatics over the south of the isle.  They requested the swastika to be cut off the Heinkel tail and sent to them to adorn the wall of their mess.  Years later that German pilot returned to Fair Isle to view for himself how fortunate he had been In landing on the only suitable part of the island.

Fatalities
In April, 1941, I was preparing to travel to Orkney for a second happy event, when three days before my departure, the North lighthouse was bombed.  The dwelling houses were damaged, and outside stores demolished, but on the whole it wasn't too drastic.

Ivor and I proceeded by Good Shepherd and plane to Orkney.   In June, our daughter Adelaide (Ada) was born.  Sometime later George arrived for his annual holiday, which was a welcome break, but he returned alone to Fair Isle.   He wouldn't allow us to join him because of the enemy Interest there; that turned out to be a wise decision.

In December, 1941, an enemy aircraft fired a blast from its machine guns when passing.  Mrs Kitty Sutherland, the first assistant's wife was working at her sink in the window and surely did not hear the plane in time to take evasive action.   She was shot dead on the spot, but her little two-yearold daughter June, who was by her side, escaped unhurt. but shocked.

A few days later there was a repetition but no-one was injured, the only casualties being dishes in our scullery.

The gravity of the situation compelled the keepers to make wills, which were forwarded to head office Edinburgh for safe keeping.  Then in January, 1942, the enemy effected a direct hit on the dwelling houses.

Our house was entirely upstairs, above the principal's house, and the bomb went through our bedrooms, down into the house below where it exploded.

George had just come off duty and decided to have a tune on his accordion, while warming his feet at the fire before going to bed.

Corridor
In hearing the plane. he dived for cover away from the windows - miraculously that part of the roof stayed Intact, but the ceiling fell on him.  After the dust cleared a little and it was possible to see once more, he crawled to where the room door had been, where a scene of devastation met his eyes.

There were no bedrooms, corridor or staircase, all had disappeared, leaving only a heap of rubble.  With difficulty, owing to the fact he only had socks on his feet, he clambered down over the debris.

The principal, W. Willie Smith had heen to the post office and on his way back witnessed the whole episode.  He arrived to find that his wife and daughter had both been fatally injured, also a soldier who happened to be visiting them at the time - therefore George was the only survivor to come out of the building.

It took a considerable time to recover the bodies, and by then the place was on fire. Three houses and three coal cellars were within the building, and as the annual allocation of coal for the station amounted to 26 tons, the fire burnt for a week.  However the light itself was never out of action.

A handful of charred photos and papers, also the inscription plate off my writing bureau were recovered.  The only wedding present left was the gold sovereign that old Tom the shopkeeper had kindly given us.

All this took place when a severe gale was raging, and no boat could land.

The only medical people on he isle were the district nurse and an orderly at the Naval base.  They came to the conclusion that George was Injured internally so he was put to bed at the schoolhouse where he received every kindness and attention from Mr and Mrs Cassells.

Difficulty
Several days later the storm abated and a boat was able to land and George was transported to Lerwick.  He had been able to borrow a few articles of clothing and a pair of rubber boots, but when he appeared in this strange garb, in the lounge of the Grand Hotel, where he had been directed to stay, eyebrows were certainly raised among the guests (mostly top military personnel) until they discovered what had happened.

After some days the doctor who was attending him. decided he was able to travel, whereupon he was directed to report at Lighthouse headquarters, Edinburgh.   Having neither.birth certificate nor identity card, it was a little difficult to obtain the necessary travel documents, especially as Orkney and Shetland were designated protected areas, but ventually he arrived at Finstown.

His weekend stay was a welcome break for him and us, but he was a poor soul. looking so unwell, and suffering from shock.

Clothing
On arrival at Edinburgh, he was told he must remain there under the watchful eye of the Lighthouse doctor, but could help in the NL store at Granton.

The two children and I remained at Finstown. One of my tasks was to claim for war damage; as we had no war damage insurance, this meant detailing every Item we possessed.  A valuator from Inverness and a clerk came to the house and I spent an afternoon with them describing everything.

The total amount.of their assessment was £376.7/2.  The ordeal of memorising all our lost belongings left me in a distressed state.

After two months at Edinburgh George was pronounced able to return to lighthouse life. 'Therefore in March, 1942, he proceeded to Buchanness Lighthouse where he had been appointed as second assistant.

The children and I soon flew down to join him.  We had great difficulty in getting the bare necessities for living, but our relatives and friends rallied round with everything they could spare.

Food was strictly rationed and clothing on coupons, but the welcome food and clothing parcels received from cousins in Vancouver were a delight.