Parents hear of sons’ gallantry

Three Stirling soldiers were among the latest to be awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field.

One was Cpl Alexander Meldrum Robertson, City of London Royal Field Artillery, who received the honour for gallantry on March 23, 1918. Known by pals as ‘Ozy’, he was about 40 and the son of the late Mr John Robertson, gardener, and Mrs Robertson, 14 Ronald Place.

He was a plasterer to trade, having served an apprenticeship with Mr Alex Walls , and had been working in London for 16 years. He joined the City of London Royal Field Artillery at the start of the war and had been in France for three years. He had taken part in many of the big battles, including the Somme, and up to that time had come through without a scratch. His brother, Archibald, a former tobacconist and newsagent in Upper Craigs, died of wounds in December, 1917.

In Cambusbarron, Mr and Mrs Alex Scott, Store Brae and formerly Falleninch Farm, learned their son, John, a private in the Gordon Highlanders, had been awarded the Military Medal for gallant conduct between March 23 and 29, 1918. He was for 12 years a joiner with the Canadian Pacific Railway Company but returned home at the start of the war and joined the A&SH. He was later transferred to the Gordon Highlanders. He was seriously wounded earlier in the campaign when he was shot by a sniper and hit in the shoulder.