Portkil Hospital
Portkil, near Kilcreggan, was the site of a 200-bed naval hospital. The first draft of USN medical personnel had arrived at the hospital on 15 August 1942. They soon made friends among the Peninsula population and Stuart Edwin Fraser of the wartime USN medical corps wrote to the Helensburgh Advertiser in 1975 to express fond memories of his very happy two years at Portkil and the weekly dances at Cove hall where everyone was very friendly.
The hospital continued in use for the duration of the war. Following D-Day, it was very busy as thousands of wounded survivors from vessels that had been sunk during the assault were given medical care and rest. In early 1944, following the Allied landings at Anzio, Harvey Alexander, USN, and other survivors from sunken ships were sent to Rosneath to recover and in Harvey's own words as related to his son-in-law:
Harv: "Yes, we were heading back to Arzew, but our ship was hit, and to this day we are still not positive whether it was a mine that we had collided with, or a sub directly torpedoed us." "It was lucky that there were no casualties. We were then picked up by a navy transport and taken to a SURVIVORS rest camp in Scotland."
Author: "Do you remember where in Scotland?"
Harv: "The place we came to was an island in a lake about a one and a half hour's train ride from Glasgow. It was set up as just what they called it, a rest and recreation camp. (thinking) "It was called the Rosneath and Kilcreggan anchorage."
Author: "Did you get a chance to see Glasgow?"
Harv: "Oh yes. Glasgow was a great city, and the people thought that the sun rose and set on the US NAVY, so you know how we were treated. Of all the places in this world I have been to, that is the only place I would really like to go back to someday ... We had absolutely ten of the best days of our lives in this paradise."
(Interview published here with kind permission of Harvey Alexander. Additional information on Harvey's website.)