Hello again,

I have just remembered a very tenious link to a tartan from my days in the Royal Air Force. It was 1972 or 73, one of my team was a Senior Aircraftsman Ahoe (very, very old East Anglian name - can be traced back to pre Roman invasion).

Very long and dramatic story cut short -
Ahoe has serious accident and loses vast ammount of blood;
his life is hanging by a thread and he is not expected to live;
he has very rare blood type;
tannoy message calling for blood donors of his type;
only one man comes forward - Cpl. Campbell (you can see where this is going);
a week later Ahoe is discharged to his barracks to recover - Cpl. Campbell in the meantime has been posted to RAF Hong Kong and the two never meet;
as soon as physically able Ahoe buys a Campbell tartan tie which he wears every day when he is in 'civvies';
the last time I saw him he had bought a Campbell tartan waistcoat and was talking of buying a kilt;
when questioned, the answer was always the same There's Campbell blood flowing in my veins!

Had the accident happened outside the RAF station, he would have been taken to a civilian hospital and would never have known the donor. As it happened, a broad Norfolk speaking lad, who had hardly ever left the County, became in his own mind Scottish, because of an accident at work.

Regards

Chas