American Years Revisited
American Years Revisited records and shares the stories connected to 31 years of US Naval Base presence on the Holy Loch (from 1961 to 1992) and the impact this has had on the history and heritage of our community. We are working to uncover and record the wealth of information from Dunoon and across the Atlantic and to preserve and present this in ways that engage with local people, visitors and people online around the world.
Episodes
In this episode John Kelly talks to Audrey McDougall about the officers' wives club during the American Years in Dunoon.
Don was a diver at the American military base on the Holy Loch in Argyll Scotland. Don tells us about his life in Hawaii then travelling to Italy and finally settling in Scotland at the Holy Loch. His accounts of life above and below the waves paints a very clear picture of operations at the base and why so many servicemen came to choose Dunoon at home.
In this episode Gerry Pursley shares a first-hand account of active service on the Proteus at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With no warning the Proteus left the Holy Loch and headed for the North Atlantic. The ship wasn’t quite sea ready as they left in such a hurry, this lead to all sorts of situations that you’ll hear Gerry describing in rich detail.
In this episode Kate Simpson talked with author and sailor Euan Ross of Kilmun. Euan talks about growing up on the Holy Loch and what it was like to live in the shadow of the ship.
In this episode we hear memories of the first years of the Americans being in Argyll, it features a chat with three local women Linda and Andrene, who both grew up in Dunoon itself, and Margaret grew up down the road in Innellan. Together they recall the early days of the American presence in the Holy Loch. Linda and her husband Gerry also talk about how they met for the first time. Gerry and Charlie talk about their accents and ho...
In this, the second introductory episode of the American Years Revisited podcast, local historian Margaret Hubbard takes us from the end of the second world war to the Americans arriving in the Holy Loch on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, from 1945 to 61.
In this, the first of two introductory episodes, local historian Margaret Hubbard talks us through what lead to the Americans setting up a base in the Holy Loch on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll in 1961. This first episode takes us through WWII from 1939 to 45.
n this, the third episode of the American Years revisited podcast, two retired American sailors, well known Dunoon residents, Charlie Witherow and Gerry Pursley, talk about themselves and their memories of arriving at in Scotland.
In this episode we talk to Board member Terry Sinsheimer. Terry talks about life and routines aboard the USS Hunley AS-31, his career in the navy and how he came to be a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Phil Ambagtsheer was born and raised in Los Angeles and joined the US submarine fleet after college in the early 80s. In 1984 Phil transferred to the Henry Clay SSBN 625 Gold Crew nuclear missle submarine which operated out of the Holy Loch. Phil talks about his life as a submariner. He goes into the psychology of being alone with a crew deep below the waves. He talks about life ashore and the strains that the job places on those ...
In this episode the group talked with Jan Moodie Raffino of Colonsay and Dunoon, and her husband Fred Raffino. Jan and Fred were one of the first Scots American couples to marry after the arrival of the Proteus. Fred talks about his life in America, his experiences in Cuba and what life was like for a young American sailor in Dunoon. Jan shares her experiences of life here in Scotland and further away in the states.
In this episode we speak to Isobel Lindsay, renowned peace activist and Scottish Nationalist. Isobel went on her first anti-nuclear march when she was 14 and has long been active in the CND, being part of the Committee of 100 and the Direct Action Committee. Isobel talks about why she became involved in the CND and the organisation of protest in the 60s to the American nuclear presence in the Holy Loch in Cowal on the West Coast of...
In this episode we talk to Bob Reid born in Dunoon in 1946, left in 1965 to go to university and came back 3 years ago for retirement. Bob talks about the Americans arriving in Cowal and what it was like when he was going to school with the Americans, the protests against the nuclear presence and what the exchange of cultures was like.
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