Second escape is successful for POW

It was second time lucky for a Bannockburn prisoner of war who managed to escape the clutches of the Germans. Sgt Andrew Munnoch, whose parents lived in Douglas Street, got away from the camp where he was being held and was in Murren, Switzerland. He attempted to escape earlier but was caught and “severely punished”. The ex-Edinburgh police officer, who joined the Lovat Scouts and transferred to the Cameron Highlanders, was said to be in the “best of health”.

*** Another Bannockburn soldier, Pte John Rennie, Seaforth Highlanders, was shot through the left foot while making a night attack on August 31, 1918. The 19-year-old former Plean Colliery engineer had to have his leg amputated while being treated in hospital .

*** Cpl John Fisher, Black Watch, who before he joined up was a Co-op van man and beadle at Ladywell UF Church, was home on a month’s leave. He was wounded and captured during the German offensive in France in early-1918. Cpl Fisher was released following an exchange of prisoners. The Observer said his wounds were so severe that he would be unfit for further military service.

*** And the Observer’s Bannockburn correspondent reported a number of lads from the village were home after three years’ service abroad. They had all been brought up near each other and enjoyed a reunion and ‘chinwag’. Adam McQue, David Chalmers, Hugh Gillies, John Bain, John Johnston and James Bain were soldiers while Edward Wright was with the Royal Navy.

*** On the homefront, the Observer asked whether a 15-minute afternoon smoke break would become an “established institution” for pupils at Stirling’s elementary schools.

The paper said at a school’s gate in Stirling, there could be seen almost every day groups of boys smoking their cigarettes “with evident enjoyment while they discuss the events of the day”.