This episode is a conversation with Gill and Jim Smith.
Gill worked at the base at Sandbank and was one of the people who turned the key in the door at the shore facilities once the Simon Lake had sailed away, back to the States.
Our conversation looks at the different roles Gill played at the base over the years, leading to those final moments.
We talk, too, with Jim about the variety of jobs he had in connection with the base.
Also in the room were Ann Campbell and Don Gable from the American Years teamand Alasdair Satchel, who also produced the episode.

In this episode Steven T. Hammond talks with Alasdair Satchel, who also produced the episode, about his time as a submariner here on the Clyde.
Steven also talks about his life in Alabama before and after his naval service. This episode explores questions of identity and ethnicity onboard submarines and ashore in Scotland and in Navy culture at the time of Steven’s service.

Steven very kindly also gives us some social media contact details at the end of the episode for any old friends looking to get back in contact.

Thanks for listening, see you next time!

This episode is a conversation with Trudy, Whitney and Jaime members of the Gilette family who came to live in Scotland when Trudy’s late husband worked as a dentist at Site One.
The Gilettes talk with Alasdair Satchel, who produced this episode, through Jamie and Alasdair being old school friends.
We hear tales of arriving in Scotland, cultural experiences, the role of women in Navy culture and operations here on the Holy Loch and also the experience of what it was like to go back to America after spending some of your most formative years in Scotland.
Thanksfor listening!

Today’s conversation is with Erick Geisler . Originally from Ohio, Erick trained first as a welder before joining the Navy. His appointment here at Site One on the Holy Loch had a massive impact on his life, with one chance meeting changing it for ever.
Erick rose through the ranks until he retired as Chief Petty Officer, before moving back to Dunoon.
Erick talks with Alasdair Satchel, who also produced the episode, about the nature of his work at Site One, his later career developments and the nature of diversity at the base here in Scotland at the time and how he’s seen things change over the years.
Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to American Years Revisited, the story of the American Navy on the Clyde at the Holy Loch. I’m Kate Simpson from the American Years Revisited team.
Our focus for this season is diversity in its various guises.
This first episode explores what ethnic diversity looked like in Dunoon before the arrival of the American Navy. Our American participants also talk about diversity in the communities they grew up with back in the States.

In this episode you’ll hear from our project regulars: Andrene,Margaret, Gerry, Don and Phil. Ann, our project lead, joins theconversation, too. The discussion was facilitated by AlasdairSatchel who also produced this episode.

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 how they’ve kept a hold of them for so many years.

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 you love. 

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 Scotland.

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.