13 Nov 1982
But the 64-year-old ex-commando was blissfully unaware of the potentially-explosive situation for 40 years.
It only came to light when renovation work forced him out of his home in Tantallon Road, Shawlands, Glasgow. For when workmen moved in, they found an unexploded incendiary bomb lying among the rubble of a fallen ceiling.
The building was sealed off and police took the bomb away.
Mr McGeachy, who was decorated by Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia for bravery, said yesterday: "The first I knew was when the police told me. But I remember my mother telling me a German landmine was dropped nearby. If I had known about the bomb I'd have been out of there like a shot."
sitenotes:
John's father, Thomas Paterson McGeachy (1919-1994) served in the Navy during World War II and was sent to Italy. From about the mid-1930s the family lived in a large tenement at 10 Tantallon Road, Glasgow, close to Queen's Park (Shawlands).
John hardly ever spoke about his father and the story about the bomb was unknown until John Neil Munro dug op this article in 2022. Also Tommy having been decorated by Marshall Tito is news for everyone.
I found one relevant quote in this context when John spoke to Mojo's Nick Coleman in 1994:
"The war ruined everything for him, though. Completely fucked him." He frowns and hammers it out like racing odds. "Flying up some beach you've never seen before, in heat you've never experienced before, on benzedrine you've never taken before, and you're going to shoot some cunt you don't even know and your best mate right beside you getting his head shot off. Fuck that. When he came back he could only think of having a good time. Didn't want to work. And as far as I can see he lost faith in the whole of society. He was a very sweet man but the war just destroyed his brain, took his illusions away, his innocence. He became a singer. Sang for the British Forces Network blah blah blah, went pro and flew about the boards in the variety theatres." He died about six months ago.