Sergeant Major dies after being gassed three times at the Front

People in Deanston learned with regret that a soldier from the village, Pte Arthur Warren, A&SH, died from wounds sustained on December 21, 1917. He had been in service for two years and involved in much hard fighting. Pte Warren, who left a wife and young family, was working in Fallin when war broke out.

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“It is to them and men like them that our villages have remained secure from the ravages of the German hordes.”

The event concluded with a rousing rendition of God Save the King led by Rev McEwing on the harmonium.

Meanwhile, people in Kippen were also delighted to hear that a second soldier from the village had been awarded the Distinguished received word his son James, with the New Zealand Forces, had been wounded in action in France. James had emigrated six years earlier and engaged in farmwork before enlisting. The Observer also reported that Sgt RT Daly, organist of the parish church before being called up with the Territorials at the start of the war, was home on leave and played the organ at the Sunday service the previous weekend.

*** in Gartmore. Conduct medal.

Following the first recipient – Pte Andrew Clark, Black Watch – was Sgt William J Syme, Fife and Forfar Imperial Yeomanry attached to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The sergeant was sent to Gallipoli in 1915 and had not been home since. His brother, Cpl David Syme, was the first of the soldiers from the village to die in 1917. ***