It's that time of year again...

[piperchris]

At this time of year I always think of the huge sacrifices that the brave men of the armed forces have made. Heroes, nearly to a man. I think of my two grandfathers, Clyde. W. Daugherty, a soldier in the U.S. Army from 1920 to 1947 and his tour included heavy combat in the Pacific in WWII, and Albert F. Rassmuss another U.S. Army soldier who saw heavy combat in WWI in France and Belgium from 1917-1920 starting at the tender age of 17.

[Peter Crowe]

When I lived in Scotland, I always honoured veterans and the fallen by supporting the Royal British Legion Scotland (RBLS) and the Earl Haig Fund. In the United States I mainly do so through Church attendance and Memorial Day parades in May. During adolescence (11-16), I was in the Scouts and I spent the Saturday before Rememberance Sunday from 9am - 5pm selling poppies in uniform with kilt. At one point (aged 15-16) I also participated in two Rememberance Sunday parades, one in the morning with the Scouts in Uddingston and later during the afternoon in Hamilton as a cadet with the Air Training Corps (ATC). During my adult years in Scotland, I attended RBLS acts of Rememberance at Hawick's War Memorial and the Glasgow University Chapel which was dedicated to those students and alumni who fell in the Great War (1914-1918).

Where I now live in the States most people treat the 11th November (US Veterans Day) as just a day off from work to go to the mall.

I have a contact for poppies who is an American born Drum Major enthusiastic for all things to do with the Scots Guards and Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

My own family's history is peppered with those who served in both world wars. My paternal Grandfather (Grandpa) was a regular soldier from 1926-1953, and was with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France during 1939/40 whilst a sergeant in the East Surreys. In 1943 he went through an Officer Cadet Training Unit and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers (RE). My Great Uncle Willie was a Bombadier (equivalent to an infantry corporal) with the Royal Artillary in the 8th Army through North Africa (torpedoed twice on route) and Italy. My Great Uncle George served as a Private with the Gordon Highlanders later transferring to the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and was captured by the Japanese following the fall of Singapore in 1942, an ordeal which he managed to survive. My maternal Grandfather (Papa) tried to volunteer but was found to be medically unfit (with chronic respiratory problems) for active service and became a member of the Home Guard (KOSB) Coy. in Galashiels. When I was in my twenties, I too tried to enlist with the Territorial Army (KOSB Coy, 52nd Lowland Volunteers) in Galashiels but was rejected because I was underweight for my height (I subsequently found out I was born with Marfan syndrome which makes active service in the police or military medically impossible).

In WWI, one Great-Grandfather was a Senior Skipper (Commissioned Warrant Officer) with the RNVR and used his trawler to ram and sink a German U-Boat for which he was highly decorated by the Italians, Serbs, and French. Another Great-Grandfather was a Company Sergeant-Major (CSM) with the Hampshires in Mesopotamia (Iraq). My Great-Great Uncle Willie was a Major with the Gordons on the Western Front and was awarded the MC, in civilian life he was the Dominie (School Master) of Insch in Aberdeenshire.

What struck me about my Grandfather's generation was they never talked about their exploits with regard to action in the face of the enemy. My Grandpa mentioned Dunkirk to me once and told me that his unit nearly didn't make it off the beaches. My Grandpa and my Uncles certainly never regarded themselves as heroes and would have been highly embarrassed to be described as such by others. My family members were lucky, they all survived with life and limb intact unlike so many of their comrades who paid the ultimate price.

I shall attend Church in my kilt (day/hunting wear) with my ATC regimental tie and a poppy in my lapel on Sunday 13 November.

KOHIMA EPITAPH

"When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today"

(John Maxwell Edwards 1875 - 1958)

Lest we forget!