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"O valiant hearts who to your glory came

Through dust and conflict and through battle flame
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved
Your memory hallowed in the land you loved. "

PREFACE
The main street was at its busiest on a fine Saturday morning. It was the popular tine for shopping and meeting friends
and pavements were thronged. This was the 1930's so a few horse-drawn delivery vehicles still mingled with the motor
traffic and over the sounds of the street rose the lively, wheezing strains of an accordion.

The music came from the direction of the bridge where two disabled ex-servicemen of the Great War, their medals
catching the sun, had been delivered to their pitch on its approaches. The accordionist walked with the aid of crutches
and sat on a chair to play the instrument. On the ground beside him his companion sat against a shop front with a rug
over his lap: he had no legs betlow the knee. I recall this man's warm, beaming smile as he looked up to acknowledge
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small change dropped into the upturned cap set before him. Once I saw a tall man of military bearing stoop to shake
his hand and chat for a bit.

The men whose music gave a touch of gaiety to the Saturday scene seemed strange to me as a small child because they
were 'different', a little frightening perhaps, and I probably hurried past; nevertheless, decades later I found a clear
picture of them in my memory. In time, first one and then both were replaced by others but I had long gone away to
school and forgotten them.

Ex-servicemen like these, broken in body and sometimes mind, were the unemployed - unemployable - survivors of a
war that had been over for twenty years, yet they were still a familiar sight in the towns and cities of Great Britain
supplementing a meagre pension in any way they could. In London a band consisting of two or three men moved
slowly along the gutter in Oxford Street - trumpet, banjo and drum - a hand-written notice reminded us who they
were and invited our largesse. There were also blinded men who sold shoelaces or matches from a tray hung round the
neck.

My father had fought in that war but for him its legacy was quite different. Leaving the Army in 1919 he had been able
to resume family life and an interrupted business career, and although damaged lungs troubled him for the rest of his
life, he had prospered. A Mention in Despatches and his medals were framed in his study and about the house hung
his pencil sketches of trench life in 1916 and watercolours of Salonika in 1918. In the 1930s the remnants of a diary he
had kept were put together and printed for family and friends. I don't think his children were particularly impressed -
the 'war to end wars' seemed like ancient history and the next one was brewing - but sixty years later the diary was to
come into the public domain and is now admired and quoted.

It was the decision to research the diary that in 1996 introduced me to the subject of the Great War and the following
year took me on the first of many visits to the battlefields of France and Flanders. I cast my mind back and tried to
remember how, if at all, the aftermath of the war had impinged on my chidhood. I found mainly memories of
Armistice Day : the typically overcast November sky; Flanders poppies worn by everyone; a leaden atmosphere in
the house; my mother quiet with her thoughts. Too young to understand what it was at about, when heads bowed at
11 a.m., I liked to watch the sky for the drifting puffs of white smoke from maroons fired to mark the beginning aid
end of The Two Minutes Silence.

Snapshot memories of the disabled men on the bridge also surfaced; tragic figures they seem now whose presence on
Saturday mornings we had taken for granted and largely ignored. I think of this with feelings akin to the legless man
with the cheerful smile and his accordion-playing comrade ? Where had they served ? What had they had to endure ?
These are questions I have sought to answer in respect of the men of Saddell.

Carradale and Skipness who fell in the two world wars. Their names are on memorials in the main street of Carradale
village and in the church and in the churchyard of St Brendon's at Skipness. They are honoured on Remembrance
Sunday each year, but memory surely fades and of those who fell in the Great War little or nothing is known now
beyond that they did not return.

Who were they ? What happened to them ?

Nearly all were born in this area and would probably have known each other. The majority had joined the Army;
three, the Naval Reserves; one, in WW2, had continued his peacetime service as an officer in the Merchant Navy.
They saw action in France, Flanders, Gallipoli, Italy, Palestine, Hong Kong and in European waters. I have included
one civilian, a hapless young casualty of the Clydebank blitz and also John MacDougall, who was born in Skipness but
is commemorated on the memorial in Jura where he worked.

Modern generations, worldly and cynical, cannot comprehend the eagerness to enlist that seized the young men of
Great Britain and the Empire in the early years of the Great War. Personal reasons varied, of course: the prospect of
travel and adventure was a common one; escape from a humdrum life to wear the uniform of a proud regiment and,
well, everyone else was going. However, the basic reason for the 'pied piper' response to Lord Kitchener's call to arms
was undoubtedly patriotism. Great Britain and the Empire, in which there was an intense pride, were perceived to be
at risk from a dangerous enemy and it was everybody's duty - and wish - to rally to their defence.

In January 1916 Jack McAiister Stewart, on the staff at the Royal Bank in Glasgow, wrote a letter that sincerely and
touchingly expresses these sentiments. He told his parents in Grogport that he had decided after careful thought to
give up his job and join the Army and continues :

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"Any young man who does not answer this, the last call for voluntary service does not deserve to be a citizen of a free
country. This is a war of sacrifices and everyone must do his bit. Girls can cany on our work until the war is finished
and if we are spared to come back we can enter with a new zest into our work".

Jack was not spared.

May he and the twenty other young men in whose honour this record of sacrifice has been compiled, rest in peace -
they are not forgotten.

"THESE WERE OURS IN THE DAYS OF THEIR BOYHOOD

AND THEIR NAMES HAVE BECOME OUR HERITAGE"

From The Memorial in the village of Strontian, the families

Of which lost nearly all their sons in The Great War.

+
CARRADALE

1914 - 1919

C. C. MCQUEEN
N. GALBRAITH
C. H. TRENT
J. MITCHELL
W. S. MITCHELL
A. McLEISH
J. McFADYEN
D. W. NICHOLSON
J. M. STEWART
J. McALISTER
A. MCMILLAN
D. McCONACHY
W. PATERSON
A. RITCHIE

1939 - 1945

A. GALBRAITH
W. P. McALISTER HALL
J. A. McKINVEN

SKIPNESS

1914 - 1919

R. LINDSAY
D. COOK
D. LINDSAY
J. McDOUGALL

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COLIN CAMPBELL McQUEEN
Lance Corporal
10805
1st Btn. Scots Guards
Died on 25th January 1915
Aged 25

Son of William and Sophia Campbell McQueen of Gorton Cottage, Carradale.

Colin was serving with the Glasgow Police at the time of his enlistment in November 1914. In December he was sent
to Flanders.

The first battle of Ypres ended in November in stalemate. Throughout December the Germans carried out formidable
counter-attacks in the Givenchy area (during one of which John McAllister from Grogport was severely wounded). At
Christmas there was an unofficial truce. A British officer likened this stage of the war in Flanders to a game of
draughts : "We take two trenches, the Germans take one; we move and take three, they take two - and so on".
Slowly, the offensive was passing to the Allies.

Weather conditions were atrocious. Frost and snow alternated with rain and trenches were flooded. The men were
constantly wet through and plastered in mud but, remarkably, they remained cheerful and confident; they were well
clothed and fed and could sometimes rest, have a hot bath and a change of clothing at specialty set up centres behino
the line.

In the first three weeks of 1915 the struggle to gain another step forward continued with frequent artillery duels and
sniping. Then on January 25th the Germans launched a major attempt to capture Givenchy 'as a birthday present for
Kaiser Wilhelm' and the formerly obscure old fortress town, already in ruins from the December attacks, was about to
be cruelly immortalized.

The attack at first carried everything before it. The Scots Guards and Coldstreams on the canal bank - both battalions
at only half strength - were pushed back. They joined other units and the remainder of their own battalions in a 'keep'
in the brickfields outside Cuinchy and ferocious hand-to-hand fighting developed among the brick-stacks. With heavy
losses on both sides, the enemy was gradually driven back and the Kaiser did not receive his 'present'. The Scots
Guards suffered 396 casualties and were later temporarily withdrawn into reserve. Among the missing on this day of
slaughter and extreme heroism was Colin McQueen. His name is inscribed on the Memorial to the Missing at Le
Touret Cemetery (Panels 3 and 4).

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NEIL GALBRAITH
Private
25585
14th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, The Royal Montreal Regiment
died on 21st May, 1915 at Festubert
aged 29
Son of John and Helen Galbraith of Rose Cottage, Carradale, Kintyre

On 9th May 1915, the Artois offensive was launched by the Allies on a sector of the Western Front stretching from
Arras to Lille. After a 5-day preliminary bombardment the French made good progress from between Arras and Lens
and came close to Vimy Ridge before the attack petered out due to shortage of troops.

On the same date, British troops attacked on either side of Neuve Chapelle towards Aubers Ridge in one of the
grimmest and most costly day's fighting of the Great War. Due to an acute shortage of shells, the preliminary
bombardment had been limited to an inadequate 40 minutes and poorly supported infantry were savaged before the
attack was called off. British casualties on that day totalled 11,000.

A second attack, across the flat, waterlogged, ground around Festubert was launched by Haig on the night of the
15th. This was preceded by a 4-day bombardment and at first rapid progress was made but by the time the action was
halted (on 27th May) the Germans had been pushed back less than a kilometre. The weather was misty and wet and
water-filled trenches and drainage ditches were obstacles that the men had sometimes to swim across.

The Canadian 3rd Brigade, which included the 14th Battalion in which Neil Galbraith was serving, advanced with the
16th Battalion to attack Quinque Rue Orchard - now called 'Canadian Orchard'. The 16 th reached it successfully till
halted by a massive ditch still to be seen, but the 14th were repulsed with heavy losses. Neil was killed by a 'Jack
Johnson' shell (named for a black American boxer because of its power and its generation of a cloud of black smoke)
and his body was not recovered. His name is on the Canadian Memorial on Vimy Ridge.

The Memorial stands on the ridge in a Memorial Park owned and maintained by Canada. The whole area, now planted
with trees, is heavily shell pocked and remains dangerous, a legacy of almost continuous fighting for possession of the
ridge that was finally taken by the Canadians in April 1917. There is an extensive network of well-equipped tunnels
created by both sides in the chalk beneath the ridge to assemble and conceal troops.

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CECIL HENRY TRENT
Able Seaman
Clyde 5/2395
Anson Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Royal Naval Division
Died in the Gallipoli campaign on 4th June 1915

Cecil was the youngest son of Henry Trent, the butler at Carradale House and was born here. The Trents came from
Henley-on-Thames when Austen Mackenzie acquired the Carradale estate in 1899. Cecil enlisted in the Royal Navy in
1913 and in 1914 transferred to the Royal Naval Division originally created as an advanced base force for securing
anchorages where ships could replenish coal and supplies. In the Great War the RND battalions, each named after a
famous Admiral, were to serve with great distinction as infantry in the field.

After the failed defence of Ostend in 1914, the depleted battalions of the RND were reorganised and in 1915 sailed for
Gallipoli. The heavily fortified natural barrier across the western end of the Helles peninsula, called Achi Baba, had
defied British attempts to take it : a new attack was planned for 4th June. Before dawn on that day the men of the 2nd
Brigade of the RND began to move towards their allotted sector of the British line. Their way was strewn with the
detritus of previous attacks and as the day wore on the hot, fetid air swarmed with flies from the shallowly buried dead.
In the late morning a desultory bombardment of the Turkish trenches was lifted and a feint of attack made along the
whole of the Allied line to which the Turks, unaffected, responded with murderous machine gun end crtillery fire
inflicting severe casualties. Nevertheless, at noon, as picrne-c, zre 3"'rs" troops advanced tc thei-r mcfr esse jit.

In the first seconds of the attack half of the Anson officers were hit and a heavy toll taken of the men as they came on
to open ground. Only about hald their number, with a few surviving officers managed to reach the Turkish trenches
where they awaited the arrival of support from Collingwood Battalion of the Division's 1st Brigade also depleted by
casualties sustained on the way. With great gallantry the two battalions then attempted a further advance but, as
elsewhre along the British line, the limited progress made could not be sustained for want of reinforcements :
retirement was once again inevitable.

Cecil Trent was killed during this day and his name is on the Helles Memorial at the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

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JOHN MITCHELL
Serjeant
S/3774
8th Btn. The Black Watch
Died in The Battle of Loos on 25th September 1915
Aged 28
Son of John and Catherine Mitchell of Airds, Carradale

John was the eldest of a large family. A younger brother, William, died in 1917 while serving in the R. N. Reserve.

The Battle of Loos was the first major British offensive of the war and is remembered particularly for the heavy
casualties suffered by only partially trained troops and for the first use by the British of poison gas.

The 9th (Scottish) Division was allotted a front opposite the formidable Hohenzollen Redoubt; the 5th Camerons were
in the front trenches with the 8th Black Watch in reserve. A continuous bombardment of the German positions began
on 21st September and made sleep almost impossible for the waiting men. Final preparations for the attack included
carrying, in the utmost secrecy, the cylinders of gas - referred to only as "the accessory' - up to the front line.

On the 25th gas was released from 5.50am with smoke candles thrown in to give the appearance of a greater volume.
As the greyish and yellow-brown cloud drifted towards the German trenches, the Black Watch were moving up to the
front and after a final burst of intense artillery and machine gun fire the assault was delivered at 6.30am.

The Germans were more surprised than affected by the gas but by 7am the Hohenzollern Redoubt had been taken and
the Black Watch, with the Camerons, continued to advance - but at terrible cost. On no other day in the Great War
did the 8th Battalion come under such murderous machine gun fire. John Mitchell's body was one of the many not
recovered and his name is inscribed on the Loos Memorial to the Missing at Dud Corner Cemetery.

A heap of dud shells nearby gave this cemetery its strange name. From the roofs of the two pavilions at the entrance
there is a commanding view over the Loos battlefield where fell most of the 20,589 officers and men commemorated
here. The names of the missing line the walls; John Mitchell's is in the pavilion (below) at the east end.

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WILLIAM MITCHELL
Ordinary Seaman, Royal Naval Reserve
H. M. DRIFTER "Campania II"
Died Monday 5" March 1917
Aged 25
Son of John and Catherine Mitchell of Airds, Carradale

William was a fisherman in peace time and one of a large family. His elder brother, John, served in the Back. Waten
and was killed at the battle of Loos in 1915.

In 1914 the United Kingdom faced an entirely new danger - U-Boats - and urgent measures were needed to protect
ports, trade routes and the essential transportation of men and war materials to The Continent.

The UK coastline was divided into areas to be patrolled by vessels adapted for anti-submarine duties. Yachts, trawlers
and drifters, crewed and officered by fishermen of the Royal Naval Reserve, were requisitioned for this new type of
warfare and supported by fast naval ships such as destroyers.

At first, methods of of dealing with U-Boats were primitive and a matter of experimentation. It was thought that
drifters could 'catch' submarines like large fish, in their 1,000-yard long steel-meshed drift nets to be despatched by a
surface vessel. Bitter experience showed that this was unrealistic and many ideas were tried before it was found that
attaching mines to the nets was the most effective.

The work of drifters was highly dangerous and called for great skill and courage from their crews; they were lightly
armed and in the early days had only carrier pigeons for ship/shore communication. U-boats became skilled in taking
evasive action and to the frustration of their hunters changed their tactics constantly; for example, a timing device
allowed them to lay mines which later rose from the sea bed to a level dangerous to shipping - often in areas already
marked 'clear'. "Campania", 90 gross tons, was taken into naval service in 1915. She was equipped with a 47mm gun,
anti-submarine indicator nets, lance bombs and W/T. In March 1917 she was sunk off St. Abbs Head in unknown
circumstances while on active service in Auxiliary Patrol Area VIII. There were no survivors among her crew of two
officers and ten ratings, all Royal Naval Reservists.

William Mitchell's body was found on the Goodwin Sands having apparently been carried south by the currents that
sweep down the east coast of England. He is buried in Brackley Cemetery.

William's headstone stands beside the family stone on which both he and John are commemorated.

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ALEXANDER McLEISH
Private
3360
1st/8th Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Died on Friday, 28th April 1916
Aged 19
Son of Thomas and Jessie Stewart McLeish of The Gardens, Saddell, Kintyre.

Alexander's father was the gardener at Saddell House. Their cottage is now called Shore Cottage.

During the spring of 1916 the war intensified on all fronts. At home there were airship raids on towns in England and
Scotland. In France the 10-month defence of Verdun began and to relieve the pressure on the great citadel a major
Anglo-French offensive on the Somme was planned for the summer.

Throughout April British troops were in action everywhere on the Western Front. In the middle of the month the 8th
Argylls, in reserve at Maroeuil to the northwest of Arras, relieved the 6th Argylls in trenches at Labryinthe, an
elaborate, highly fortified trench system taken from the Germans the previous year. Each day there were fierce
German attacks and casualties were heavy.

At 2.13am on the 28th April the enemy sprung a mine below British trenches, heralding an intense bombardment and
attack. The mine caused serious damage to the trenches and casualties included four men buried up to the neck; one
died and enemy soldiers tried unsuccessfully to dig and pull the other three out; they debated killing them but were
dissuaded by a comrade and beaten off. A desperate situation faced the Argylls that morning. In order to hold the line
the depleted defenders were reinforced by hastily gathered battalion staff and orderlies, plus men of The Royal
Engineers and fatigue parties of Sherwood Foresters; telephone communication was broken and runners were used.

The line held and the 8th were later relieved and returned to Maroeuil. A report on the situation concludes : "The
conduct of the officers and men of the Battalion could not have been better. All ranks showed the greatest keenness to
engage the enemy and the coolness and disregard for personal safety of all ranks was most marked". Alexander had
been among the many wounded and died later; he is buried in Maroeuil Cemetery (1.D.3).

The cemetery contains 563 graves, the majority of them Highland Territorials. An epitaph by Alexander's mother
reads: "A rich inheritance rewards the he hath won".

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JOHN McFADYEN
Private
241717
1/5th Btn. Royal Scots Fusiliers
Wounded in the Second Battle of Gaza and died in Egypt on 7th May 1917

In 1915, to safeguard the Suez Canal after two attacks by the Turks, an invasion of the Sinai Peninsula was mounted.
This was completed early in1917 and was continued into Palestine. In March came the first Battle of Gaza, a failure
after partial success due to dense sea fos that hindered the infantry and assisted the enemy and a lack of water for the
horses. The second attack on Gaza came three weeks later by which time the Turks hod been greatly reinforced.
Launched at dawn on 17th April, it was at first brilliantty successful with few casualties. The next day won ground was
secured and, preparations made for the next stage.

On the 19th enemy lines were bombarded with high explosive and gas shells and the attack launched at 7.30am. Three
divisions advanced - the 5th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers and 5th KOSBs were part of the 155th Brigade.
Strong points on the Ali Muntar ridge were successfully taken before the troops ran into a storm of machine-gun and
shrapnel fire 200 yards from Outpost Hill. The Fusiliers and KOSBs repeatedly rushed the summit lunette (hill fort)
and were driven out - but by early afternoon they had carried it. Howwever, the garrison was soon in a hopeless
predicament with no means of communication or prospect of assistance and subjected to repeated assaults by the
enem. By evening with only 70 men left there was nothing for it but to slip away under cover of darkness. So ended in
failure the Second Battle of Gaza.

Most of the 1,026 casualties occurred around the lunette on Outpost Hill. John McFadyen was one of them. On that
grim day the conduct of the Fusiliers received high praise: "they were . . . always ready to put themselves at the
disposal of any officer who would lead them forward again and once having a foothold did not give ground . . . ".
Incredibly, they also succeeded in bringing back all guns and equipment, reflecting "the highest credit on the discipline
of all ranks".

John is buried in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery.

Cairo was the Headquarters of the U.K garrison in Egypt in WWI and the main hospital centre for treating the sick and
And wounded from all operations in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine.

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DUNCAN NICHOLSON
Private
302369
1st/8th Btn. Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
Died on Tuesday, 15th May 1917 in The Battle of Arras
Aged 38
Son of David Nicholson of Waterfoot, Carradale and husband of Mary McDonald Nicholson of Moineruadh,
Carradale,
Argyll.

After the close of the Battle of the Somme in November 1916, the Germans withdrew to a prepared line which they
further developed into a massive and innovative defensive system, several miles deep : the Hindenburg Line.

A master plan, drawn up for the Allied armies by the newly promoted French General, Robert Nivelle, save the
British the role of attacking the Line from the town of Arras beneath which thousands of troops assembled in tunnels
equipped with lighting, piped water and a narrow gauge railway. The tunnels extended beyond the town and enabled
the men to surface unobserved in No Man's Land. On 9th April, following a bombardment even more intense than the
opening of the Somme offensive, a full-scale attack was launched by 17 British divisions along a 25-mile front:
simultaneously, the Canadians attacked Vimy Ridge to the north.

The Hindenburg Line was breocnec unexpectedly quickly, but there were heavy losses including 131 aeroplanes and
314 aircrew and, tragically, many from 'friendly fire' due to inexperience in using the 'creeping barrage', a new artillery
tactic. The planners were alarmed and halted the offensive : when it resumed it faced a greatly reinforced and
determined enemy and was to drag on until the middle of May. British casualties reached 159,000 - the highest of the
war.

Three major battles took piace east of Arras m the valley of the Scarpe with ground won and lost in attack and counter-
attack, often in wintry weather. The important town of Roeux and its chemical works, heavily defended key objectives,
were taken and briefly held by the 51st (Highland) Division on 23 rd April, but it was during the final capture of this
town weeks later that Duncan Nicholson died. The 8th Argylls, in trenches at Fompoux, suffered 42 casualties on
14th/ 15th May, 12 of whom were killed. Duncan's body was not recovered and his name is on the Arras Memorial to
the Missing.

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JAMES McALISTER STEWART
Private
7th Btn. Cameron Highlanders
Died on 31st July 1917, 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
Aged 22
Son of John and Jessie McAlister Stewart, Woodside Cottage, Grogport.

Jack was on the staff of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Glasgow; he enlisted in January 1916 and fought on the Somme
and in the Battle of Arras.

The 3rd Battle of Ypres, in which British, Canadian and Australian troops took part, was the last great battle of
attrition of the Great War and cost the British some 300,000 casualties, the Germans slightly more. The ultimate
objective was Passchendaele Ridge which had been seized and fortified by the Germans in 1914, since then giving
them the advantage of a commanding view over Allied lines.

In July 1917, the 7th Camerons (15th, (Lowland) Division) moved to the Ypres area for the forthcoming offensive and
on the 28th and 29th carried out successful attacks on enemy positions which gained some 2,000 yards and improved
security of the British lines around the town. These preliminary operations cost the battalion more than 300 casualties
and for this reason the 7th were not used in the front tme an the 31st, the opening day of the main offensive and the
dote on which Jack Stewart was killed.

3rd Ypres was protracted and bitterly fought. The carnage was appalling and continuous heavy rain turned (ftp yaund
into liquid mud in which many men drowned. The ridge was not finally taken until November.

Jack was killed by a stray shell m near trenches and buried by his comrades but, as so often happened, the grave was
lost. His name is on the Ypres Memorial to the Missing, the Menin Gate. (Panel 38 and 40).

At the time of the Great War the site of tftas magnificent Memorial was simply a road through a gap in the town walls
- there was no actual gate. Along it, thousands of troops passed on their way to the Salient. Two star lions that
marked the roadway, one on each side, are now in Canberra, Australia.

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JOHN McALLISTER
Private
10281
2nd Btn. The Scots Guards
Died 11th October 1917 at Acre, Grogport
Aged 28

Son of Duncan and Janet McAllister of Grogport. John joined the Glasgow Police Force in 1911 and enlisted in the
Scots Guards in September 1914. His name on his service documents, including his own signature, is spelt with two
Ts.

After less than two months training at the Guards depot in Caterham John arrived in France on 1 st December 1914.
Throughout December the Germans made repeated attempts to capture British-held Givenchy, an old fortress town
on high ground and militarily important because of its command of the road to Bethune. On 18th December, the Scots
Guards battalion lost half its strength, killed or wounded, in what was later described as 'an ill-conceived enterprise'
against German entrenched positions in the area around Givenchy. Intelligence reports had indicated that enemy
strength had been reduced by the transfer of troops to the Eastern front, but the positions were, in fact, fully manned
and strongly defended with machine guns, rifles and belts of barbed wire. In addition the almost continuous rain was
not favourable for an operation of this kind : some men were taken prisoner when their rifles became clogged with
mud and could not be fired. Over the next four days small gains were made and then lost to German counter-attacks
and the battle closed on the 22nd with lines restored to their original positions.

John had received severe gunshot wounds to his arm and on the 23rd December was admitted to hospital in Boulogne
and shipped back to England. The next two months were spent in hospital in Dundee and being insufficiently
recovered to return to the front, he was kept on garrison duty in the U.K. On 18th August 1916 he was discharged
from the Army as "No longer fit for war service" with Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

John returned home to Grogport and died at his home a year later. According to an obituary in the Campbeltown
Courier he is buried at Skipness but the grave has not been located. His name is inscribed on the family stone in
Brackley Cemetery.

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ALEXANDER McMILLAN
Able Seaman
Clyde Z/1820
Nelson Btn. Royal Naval Division, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Died at Gallipoli on 13th July 1915

Enlisted first in the Army Service Corps and transferred to the Royal Naval Division.
Alexander was one of three men on the war memorials who were killed in the Gallipoli campaign. The heavily fortified
natural ridge of Achi Baba with its commanding view over the Allied beachheads was high on the Allies' list for seizure;
but repeated attempts in April, May and June had ended in costly failure.

After the unsuccessful major assault on 4th June the troops had been left exhausted and greatly under strength. In
addition to casualties of the fighting, disease was taking a huge toll - dysentery, particularly, was rife in the fly-ridden
heat and squalor of the battlefields. However, yet another attempt on Achi Baba was planned for 12th/ 13th July.

British and French troops attacked at daybreak on 12th July. French troops successfully carried the Turkish lines in their
sector; the British brigade also captured the first two Turkish trenches but were driven back from the third by violent
counter-attack.

A second phase of operations began with an assault by Scottish battalions on a formidable redoubt called Guity Ravine.
An observer wrote : "The ground resembled a gigantic steaming caldron into whose thick vapours the gallant Scots
brigade poured without once hesitating or looking back . . . ". The redoubt was taken against determined Turkish
resistance in hand-to-hand fighting, but at great cost.

Then, in the course of that night the Turks, considerably reinforced, counter-attacked again forcing British troops to
withdraw at a critical point that imperilled the rest of the line. Another attack was ordered: the worn-out troops being
replaced by Chatham, Portsmouth and Nelson Battalions of the Royal Naval Division. A communications breakdown,
however, meant that Chatham did not receive their orders so the attack was carried by Portsmouth and Nelson only;
the trenches were retaken but no further headway could be made. So ended the last attempt to capture Achi Baba and
operations now moved north to the Suvia Bay area.

The losses in the two RND battalions were disastrous. In Nelson Battalion alone 283 men, all ranks, were killed;
Alexander McMillan was one of them and his name is on the Helles Memorial to the Missing (Panel 8 - 15).

15
DONALD McCONACHY
Gunner
New Zealand Expeditionary Force Artillery
Died of Wounds on 17th April 1918 in the Battle of the Lys (4th Ypres)
Aged 32

Son of Mrs McConachy of Bridgend, Carradale. Donald, who was an agricultural worker, emigrated with his two
brothers some six years before war broke out and all three boys joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The
spelling of McConachy used on the memorial plaque in the church, in the newspaper report of his death and in the
New Zealand records is MacConnachie.

On 21st March 1918 the Germans launched the 'Michael' offensive in a determined bid to recover all lost ground and
conclude the war before the arrival of US troops. They nearly succeeded. The collapse of Russia had enabled German
reinforcements to be brought from the Eastern front and the British were driven back beyond the River Somme with
heavy casualties.

On 9th April another phase, 'Georgette', was launched and a deep wedge driven into the British Flanders front. The
discharge of 2,000 tons of gas incapacited some 8,000 men. The Allies struggled to defend successive lines behind the
River Lys, but Massines and then Passchendaele - won at such cost the year before - were lost. The Germans
seemed unstoppable and the situation became so grave that a complete British withdrawal from the Continent was
considered.

Troops were rushed to Flanders from the Somme by train, bus and lorry, the guns following by road. Without
essential artillery support a state of disorganisation ensued which the Germans were able to exploit. New Zealand
infantry remained on the Somme but the 2nd New Zealand Artillery Brigade, with which Donald served, was moved
north to the Lys and took part in the Battle of Hazebrouck; on the day of his death, however, they were resting at a
base behind the lines. According to a newspaper report, Donald was one of five men talking outside their stables after
a midday meal when a shell burst five yards away killing one man outright; four were wounded, Donald severely. He
was rushed to hospital, probably at Remi Farm near Ypres, but died the same day and is buried in the adjoining
Lijssenthoek Cemetery.

The Remi Farm Casualty Clearing Station and the burial ground next to it, were originally established by the French in
1914. By 1920 when the cemetery ceased use it contained the graves of 10,786 men of many nationalities. It is now the
Lijssenthoek British Cemetery and is the second largest after Tyne Cot in Flanders.

16
WILLIAM PATERSON
Petty Officer
7424A
S.S. "Princess Royal", Royal Naval Reserve
Died on Sunday 26th May 1918
Aged 32

Son of Robert and Marion Gillis Paterson of Pier Cottage, Carradale, Argyll

William was a gunner on board the "Princess Royal" and was drowned when the ship was torpedoed while en route
from Swansea to Le Havre with a general cargo. He is commemorated on the Royal Naval Memorial at Portsmouth.

The Royal Naval Memorial, Portsmouth, was erected on Southsea Common after WW1 to commemorate members of
the Service who have no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea. Identical obetisks which were
designed to serve as a leading mark for shipping, were also placed at the other great manning ports of Chatham and
Plymouth.

The names of nearly 10,000 WW1 sailors are inscribed here and nearly 15,000 on the extension added after WW2.

17
ALEXANDER RITCHIE
21749/DA
Deck Hand, Royal Naval Reserve
H.M. Drifter "Scour"
Died Monday 27th January 1919
Aged 34

Son of John and Margaret Ritchie of Pier House, Carradale

At the beginning of the Great War when the seas around the United Kingdom were divided into patrol zones for the
protection of ports and trade routes, a special policy was adopted for southern waters necessary to counter the dangers
posed by enemy occupation of Belgian ports. Using all means at its disposal, the Navy set about making the Straits of
Dover as secure as possible against enemy war ships particularly U-boats, the new weapon with the potential to range
far beyond the Channel unobserved.

The cross-channel transportation of men and supplies essential to the war effort on the Continent had to be maintained
uninterrupted; the Army's left flank and the English coast, vulnerable to enemy landings, also needed to be protected
and our own vessels escorted safely. The Dover Patrol was created for this purpose and was to become famous.
Thanks to the courage and vigilance of those who manned it, out of a total of 125,100 supply ships which passed
through and across the area it controlled, only 73 were sunk.

The Dover Patrol was mode up principally of Destroyers, Minesweepers, Monitors and Drifters. The larger ships
were engaged on escort duties and minesweeping. The Drifters, ordinary fishing boats adapted for anti-submarine
work, used their long, steel-meshed drift nets as their principal tool in creating and maintaining barrages at enemy
ports and across the Channel and destroying U-boats.

Alexander Ritchie served with the Dover Patrol and had recently joined the newly built "Scour" when he fell victim of
the influenza epidemic while home on leave. He is buried in Brackley Cemetery.

The "Scour" was a Drifter not a Trawler as originally stated in the Debt of Honour Register.

18
ALEXANDER GALBRAITH
Chief Officer
S.S. "Ulea" (Glasgow), Merchant Navy
Died on Tuesday, 28th October 1941
Aged 29
He was the son of John and Elizabeth Galbraith, husband of Mary Galbraith of Dalmuir, Dunbartonshire

The "Ulea", 1,574 tons, Scottish Navigation Company, was torpedoed and sunk 200 miles NE of the Azores by U-
Boat "U-432". The vessel was on voyage in convoy HG75 from Huelva to Oban with a cargo of copper pyrites.

Thirteen of her crew of twenty-one, four gunners and three passengers were lost.

Alexander is commemorated on the Merchant Navy Memorial, Tower Hill, London.

The Tower Hill Merchant Navy Memorial stands in front of the Tower of London and Trinity House. It is the only
one dedicated exclusively to the Merchant and Fishing Fleet men of both wars who have no grave but the sea. The
vaulted corridor contains 11,000 names of those lost in WW1. The WW2 addition takes the form of a semi-circular
sunken garden with 24,000 names listed on its walls alphabetically under the name of the ship.

19
WILLIAM PETER MacALISTER HALL
Private
3059228
'C' Company, 2nd Btn. The Royal Scots
Died on 21st December 1941 during the defence of Hong Kong
Age 32
Son of Major William MacAlister Hall and Aymee MacAlister Hall of Torrisdale Castle, Carradale

In 1941, the small Hong Kong garrison, with neither air nor sea support, was ill prepared to cope with an invasion
from the mainland.

Japanese troops crossed into the New Territories from China on 8 th December, their assault preceded by continuous
air raids over the whole colony against which the British could offer only AA fire in opposition. By the 10th the enemy
had breached the 11-mile long British mainland defensive line and the defenders fell back to the island; here they
turned their coastal defence guns on the mainland with little effect as the ammunition was designed for use against
armoured warships.

On the night of the 18th the enemy attacked the island in great force and were soon ashore on North Point. A wedge
was driven between the British forces dividing them into a small force in the northeast of the island and a larger one in
the west. The Royal Scots in the west were ordered to stand fast in their positions to prevent the enemy penetrating
into the main part of Victoria. Bitter fighting against an enemy superior in numbers and adept at fighting in the rocky,
often precipitous, terrain continued with attack and counter attack.

The night of the 20* was quiet with heavy rain and the enemy made a dawn attack on 'B' Company which 'C' Company
broke up inflicting heavy casualties. The two Companies were then subjected to heavy mortar fire throughout the
morning. Just after dusk 'B' Company was forced to yield and a counter attack against the reinforced enemy failed to
restore positions. This was the beginning of the end : on Christmas Day Hong Kong fell. Peter was one of the 19 men
killed on the 21st. His body was not recovered and his name is on the Sai Wan Memorial to the Missing.

The Sai Wan cemetery contains 1,561 graves of British and Canadian soldiers who died fighting in December 1941.
The Memorial at the entrance bears the names of those with no known grave or who died later from ill-treatment and
starvation as Prisoners of War.

20
JAMES ALEXANDER McKlNVEN
killed by enemy action in Clydebank
Thursday, 13th March 1941
Aged 17
Son of Peter and Helen McKinven of Seaview, Carradale.

Jim McKinven was a promising young musician and a poet whose work had already been published and was much
admired. Born in Carradale he was educated at Keil School and Campbeltown Grammar School and planned to join
The Campbeltown Courier as the first step to a career in journalism.

Fearing that journalism might not offer a secure future Jim's parents persuaded him, with difficulty, to take an
accountancy course at Skerries College in Glasgow : it is said he seemed to have a sense of foreboding as he said
goodbye to his parents and boarded the steamer at Carradale harbour.

During an air raid a few months later a direct hit demolished Jim's lodgings in Peel Street. When the news reached
Carradate members of the community including Naomi Mitchison, a friend and mentor, travelled to Glasgow to
search the rubble for his body which was found and brought back to Carradale. Jim is buried beside his parents in
Brackley Cemetery.

Jim McKinven is commemorated in perpetuity in the City of Glasgow section of the Civilian War Dead Register

21
ROBERT LINDSAY
Private
S/7493
1st Btn. The Gordon Highlanders
Died at Hill 60 during the 2nd Battle of Ypres, on 17th May 1915
Age 28

He was the son of William and Flora Bain Lindsay of Skipness. Three months after his death his brother Dugald,
serving with the Australian infantry, was killed at Lone Pine on the Gallipoli Peninsular.

The infamous Hill 60 to the southeast of Ypres and the focus of intense fighting for three years, was an artificial
hillock formed by spoil from the digging of the Ypres-Comines railway. At 60 metres high it's slight elevation gave it
great tactical importance; from its crest the Germans had a commanding view of the Ypres Salient and could strafe the
British front line at will: they had to be dislodged.

On 17th April the British exploded six mines beneath the hill and in the ensuing confusion followed up with a massive
infantry attack to establish themselves in and around the craters. There they held out against enemy attacks and artillery
bombardment until overwhelmed by chlorine gas against which they had no protection. The Germans thus regained
the crest but were unable to dislodge the British troops still dug in on the western slopes. The 1st Btn. Gordon
Highlanders had been in reserve at La Clyette and on 12th May moved up to trenches around Hill 60 which they found
"full of corpses, rifles and equipment". There they endured repeated German attacks until the 20 th when they were
relieved and returned to La Clyette.

The hill remained in German hands until June 1917 when it was taken as part of the Messines operation; it was
recaptured by the Germans and finally taken back by the British in September 1918. Robert was among the many
thousands who lost their lives at Hill 60 and as almost none of the dead were recovered, the scarred and cratered hill is
in effect a mass grave. His name is inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres (panel 38).

On walls, terraces and stairways within the great arch of the Mem'n Gate are inscribed the names of 54,000 men who
died in the Ypres Salient between 1914 and 1917 and who have no known grave. Surmounting the arch is a stone lion
lying at peace and looking out towards the infamous Menin Road. Since the memorial was unveiled in 1928 the playing
of the Last Post has been a solemn nightly ritual which was suspended during the German occupation of WW2 and
resumed the very evening they left.

22
DUNCAN COOK
Lance Corporal
106936
48th Btn. Machine Gun Corps
Died in the Battle of Asiago, Northern Italy, on 15th June 1918
Aged 33
Son of Duncan and Mary Cook of Skipness, Kintyre.

Duncan enlisted as a Driver in the Army Service Corps and later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps formed in 1915
and recruited from picked men. A full machine gun team consisted of six men. Duncan is buried next to two other
MGC graves, probably members of his team killed at the same time. A series of battles was fought between the
Austrians and the Italians for the Asiago plateau in the difficult, mountainous country of northern Italy. The Austrian
army took the town of Asiago in November 1917, driving the Italians back to a defensive line that they held despite
continuing Austrian pressure.

The Austrians then rested on their line while directing their main attack elsewhere and in January 1918 the Italians
counter-attacked and regained some ground.

In June the Austrians launched a major offensive that included a gas bombardment. By this time, however, French
and British troops had strengthened the Italian line and on the 15 th, the day on which Duncan was killed, they
launched a powerful counter-attack that drove the Austrians back with severe losses - a shock defeat which led to riots
in Austria and Hungary.

A further Allied attack in October finally broke the Austrian line forcing a general retreat and the signing of a local
armistice on 4th November. A week later the war in Europe was over.

Duncan is buried in Boscon British Cemetery on the Asiago Plateau (plot 3, row A, grave 5). The cemetery is remote
and during winter months is closed to the public by snow. The dedication on the headstone includes an epitaph added
by Duncan's family : "Till morning breaks and shadows flee away".

23
DUGALD CARMICHAEL LINDSAY
Private
1781
4th Btn. Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
Died in the Gallipoli campaign on 6th August 1915
Aged 20
Son of William and Flora Bain Lindsay of Skipness

Dugald was born at Skipness and emigrated to Australia where he volunteered for the Army when war broke out. His
older brother, Robert, also born at Skipness had been killed earlier in the same year while serving with the Gordon
Highlanders.

After the failure of the naval attack on the Dardanells in February 1915, a military campaign was launched against the
Turks with the purpose of relieving pressure on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Allied troops were landed on 25th
April - British and French at Cape Hellas and the Australia and New Zealand Corps north of Capa Tepe at what
became known as ANZAC Bay. The Turks, taken by surprise, recovered quickly and, reinforced, fought fiercely to
retake lost ground.

Early in August, renewed Allied assaults on the Hellas Peninsula were launched on three fronts. The objective of the
1st Australian Brigade, in which Dugald Lindsay was serving, was the strategically important plateau known as Lone
Pine which had been held briefly and then lost after the initial landings in April.

On the morning of 6th August, the ANZAC troops began their assault. Mines laid in the preceding weeks were
detonated and a massive artillery bombardment began from land and sea. The ferocious action that followed - 'an
epic of sacrifice and savagery' - was to burn the name of Lone Pine forever into the Australian psyche.

Casualties were piled high even before the Anzacs left their trenches but they pressed on with incredible courage and
determination to find, unexpectedly, that the Turkish trenches were roofed with pine logs, an obstacle that had not
shown up in aerial photography. A primitive kind of warfare now ensued with men firing and bayoneting between the
logs; most of the killing, however, took place in hand-to-hand fighting in the trenches below.

Lone Pine was eventually taken at terrible cost. Dugald was among the dead on that first day and his name is inscribed
on the Lone Pine Memorial that stands on the site of the fiercest fighting and overlooks the whole front line.

24
JOHN MacDOUGALL
Private
S/16061
4th attd. 11th Btn. Argyll a Sutherland Highlanders
Died on 21st July 1916 at Etaples
Aged 25
Son of E. McDougall of Shore Street, Bowmore, Islay and the late Hugh McDougall

Bom at Skipness, John moved with his parents to Islay and was an estate worker in Jura. Twenty-seven volunteers left
Jura to fight in the Great War of whom fourteen, including two of the laird's four sons, did not return. John initially
joined the 4th, a holding Battalion and was attached to the 11th during the Somme campaign. His name is on the
memorial in Jura Parish Church.

Throughout the months of June and July 1916 the 11th Battalion was in and out of trenches in the Hohenzollen area,
sectors of the Somme line and at Bethune. There were some casualties from shell fire and aerial darts at this period but
John was to die at the British base at Etaples not from wounds but illness.

Etaples, ("Eat apples" to the men), is on the Pas de Calais coast and during the Great War (and again in WW2) was a
huge area of Commonwealth training and reinforcement camps - at one stage 100,000 men were accommodated
under canvas on the extensive sand dunes. The area was ideally situated being remote from attack and readily
accessible by railway from both the northern and southern battlefields.

As well as a base for advanced battle training, which included the notorious and controversial 'bullrings', there were
motor vehicle repair facilities, 16 hospitals and a well-appointed convalescent depot providing rest and relaxation.
Farms on the base provided meat and eggs for men recovering from wounds, the effects of gas and other sickness.

Infectious diseases such as measles and trench fever, so common in the crowded, wet trenches, were treated at
Etaples. It is considered possible that the devastating 'Spanish flu' that swept the world in 1918 causing many more
deaths than the Great War itself, may have originated at Etaples where its virulent characteristics, unfamiliar at the
time, were recorded 1916.

Etaples Military Cemetery, where John is buried (X1V.D.14A), is the largest in France. It contains the graves of more
than 11,000 men from all over the world, friend and foe. In WW2 Etaples again became a military base and some of
the burials date from this period.

25
ENVOI

It is nearly three years since work began on this Roll of Honour - I had thought, in my innocence, that it might
possibly take me six months ! In the event it proved more complex than foreseen so the intention to include a chapter
about life in Kintyre in the early 20th century had unfortunately to be dropped as the research required would have been
a time-consuming diversion from the main thesis. Sadly, completion has coincided with the controversial demise of
three of the great Scottish regiments which feature on several of its pages.

I have tried to be as even-handed as possible in dealing with each individual but because all but one were Other Ranks
and therefore very small cogs in the vast machine of the war, almost no detail of them can be found; each picture had
therefore to be painted with a broad brush. At least it is now known who these men were, where they served and
something of the circumstances of their sacrifice.

Some gave considerable problems. It was difficult, for example, to place Peter McAlister Hall in the confusion that
preceded the fall of Hong Kong in 1941 partly because everything belonging to the Royal Scots, including their
regimental records, was subsequently lost to the Japanese. However, the timely discovery of a letter at Torrisdale
Castle which put him in 'C' Company, made it possible to focus a little closer on the pattern of the fighting on 21 st
December, the day he was killed. I almost despaired of finding out where Donald McConachy had been on the day of
his death in 1918, but in the course of a successful 'wild goose chase' a pleasing coincidence came to light : my New
Zealand contact not only knows the farm in North Island where Donald had been employed at the time he enlisted,
but is related by marriage to its owners !

I have seen the names of many of the men in this book on their headstones and memorials, and have visited the places
where they fell.

That infamous mass grave, Hill 60, (Robert Lindsay) is now an uneven hillock of rough grass and hawthorn trees; on
the Loos battlefield the Hohenzollen Redoubt (John Mitchell) is clearly identifiable and has recently been saved from
becoming a rubbish tip. Passchendaele Ridge, the last, terrible objective of the Third Battle of Ypres (James McAlister
Stewart), is peaceful farmland; in the table-flat land near Festubert (Neil Galbraith) some of the deep ditches that so
impeded the Canadian attack can still be seen. Givenchy (where John McAllister was wounded) is an urban
development and the brickfields at Cuinchy "where the Guards were slaughtered" (Colin McQueen) is a disused factory
area; a supermarket now stands on the site of the chemical works at Roeux (Duncan Nicholson).

The years roll on : villages and towns have to grow and new roads are needed. There is dismay at disturbance of the
hallowed ground of France and Flanders where, remember, tens of thousands of the dead of the Great War still lie.
But there is close monitoring by specialist archaeologists in sensitive, battlefield areas; rediscovered trenches and
artefacts are recorded and human remains, sometimes identifiable, are re-interred with military honours in an official
cemetery of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission - and another name can be removed from a Memorial to
the Missing.

26
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The title of this Roll of Honour was taken from the Remembrance Day hymn, 'O Valiant Hearts', the music ("The
Supreme Sacrifice") by Rev. C. Harris to words by Sir John Arkwright.

Research began at the Carradale village memorial where the names of those who fell in both the World Wars are listed.
The brass plaque in the church gave me the date of each man's death - thus the first clue to where it had occurred.
Personal details of most of the men were obtained from the Debt of Honour Register of the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission and these include the cemetery or memorial where he is commemorated.

Other sources were then tapped - regimental histories, battalion war diaries and contemporary newspapers - in an
effort to get as near as possible to the whereabouts and circumstances of the man's death and to place the action in the
wider context of the war. The names of Other Ranks are not recorded in the day-to-day battalion diaries, only the
totals of killed and wounded, so assumptions had sometimes to be made particularly in the case of those who died,
possibly days later, from their injuries.

Shipping losses - the position of the vessel, the cargo, the route of the voyage and the cause of sinking - were traced
in the library of the Imperial War Museum. The fate of H.M. Drifter "Campania II", something of a mystery, was
eventually cleared up through the Ministry of Defence Naval History Branch. The sometimes almost illegible
Campbeltown Couriers of the Great War, now on microfilm in Campbeltown Library, were helpful in certain difficult
cases such as Donald McConachy.

Gordon Hall of the War Research Society was consulted on the disposition of battalions, battles and battlefields.

Many other individuals, local and far away, went to some trouble to obtain information or photographs. One (an
octogenarian) clambered up a wooded hillside in northern Italy to photograph for me the remote resting place of
Duncan Cook of Skipness. There were people I chanced to meet 'in the field' who encouraged me simply by being
interested in what I was doing.

I am indebited to Alan McLay for the photograph of Carradale village memorial on the first page; to Wallace Hunter,
Geoffrey Page and the staff at the Campbeltown Library for reproducing photographs from several sources and Tony
Leighton for technical assistance in preparing the cover.

Finally, my thanks to the Windfarm Trust for a grant towards printing costs.

GLORIA SIGGINS
Carradale 2006

Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

27
 O Valiant Hearts
Words by Sir John S. Arkwright Music by The Rev. C. Harris D.D.
Tune : The Supreme Sacrifice

O valiant hearts who to your glory came

through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
your memory hallowed in the land you loved.

Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war

as who had heard God's message from afar;
all you had hoped for, all you had, you gave,
to save mankind - yourselves you scorned to save.

Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;

into the light that nevermore shall fade;
deep your contentment in that blest abode,
who wait the last clear trumpet-call of God.

Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still,

rose a loud cry upon a lonely hill,
while in the frailty of our human clay,
Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self-same way.

Still stands his Cross from that dread hour to this,

like some bright star above the dark abyss;
still, through the veil, the Victor's pitying eyes
look down to bless our lesser Calvaries.

These were his servants, in his steps they trod,

following through death the martyred Son of God:
Victor, he rose; victorious too shall rise
they who have drunk his cup of sacrifice.

O risen Lord, O Shepherd of our dead,

whose cross has bought them and whose staff has led,
in glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land
commits her children to thy gracious hand.

28