Fergie’s book tribute to father and Lovat Scouts
As the Turkish shells exploded along the British lines, 22-year-old John ‘Ton’ MacDonald and his comrades pressed themselves further into the baked dusty earth of the hell that was the Gallipoli Peninsula’s Suvla Bay and prayed.
It must have seemed like a million miles away from the green glens of Ton’s native Moidart.
But it was a journey young Ton made and survived without a scratch, although many of his fellow Highlanders did not. And in a remarkable literary tribute, Ton’s son, wellknown Scottish accordionist, the ‘Ceilidh King’ himself, Fergie MacDonald, sheds new light on the bravery of one of the British Army’s most elite units.
The Moidart Sniper: John (Ton) MacDonald, which Fergie has written with help from Allan Henderson, is the true story of Fergie’s late father, who distinguished himself with the Lovat Scouts – firstly in the disastrous campaign against the Turks in the Dardanelles, followed by the battlefields of the Western Front.
With a foreword by Simon Fraser, the present day Lord Lovat, and printed by Inverness-based charity publishing firm For The Right Reasons, the book will be officially launched on Tuesday September 18 at The Highland Bookshop in Fort William.
It comes as the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War draws closer and when the children of those who fought and died in the Great War are themselves well into their advancing years.
It took two years of meticulous research by Fergie, who celebrated his 80th birthday last year, before the book was ready to be printed.
Months were spent sifting through letters, personal diary notes, detailed accounts by men who served with his father, plus listening to the remarkable audio recordings made by Ton.
Many of the official service records of those who served in the Lovat Scouts were destroyed along with millions of other documents during the German incendiary bombing of London in September 1940, making the task more difficult.
Raised in the Highlands by Lord Lovat, the regiment was comprised of gamekeepers, ghillies and stalkers – men who had spent their lives among the hills and glens, honing their skills in shooting, observing and moving unseen in the countryside.
Many people would be familiar with John ‘Ton’ MacDonald, whether seeing him delivering the mail along Loch Shiel in the 1960s or enjoying a day’s fishing even when well into his 90s.
But fewer would have been aware of his exploits as one of a new breed of soldier in what would be the forerunner of today’s elite special forces.
The name ‘Ton’ was due to young John’s inability to pronounce the letter ‘J’ of his name, saying it as ‘Ton’ and it was one which stuck for the rest of his 95 years.
As a child, young Fergie’s favourite toy was the sniper’s Lee Enfield .303 calibre rifle that his father brought back home to Moidart after the war.
Speaking almost soley Gaelic on going to school, Fergie’s teacher was astonished that his limited knowledge of English words was restricted to ‘rifle’, ‘bolt’, ‘magazine’, ‘trigger’, ‘backsight’, ‘foresight’ and ‘aim’.
In his introduction to the book, Fergie writes: ‘Little did I know at that age that my play toy had been an instrument of death in the killing fields of Bapaume, Cambrai, St Quentin and Perrone in the Somme sector of the Western Front and Suvla Bay in Gallipoli.’
In a special interview with the Lochaber Times to mark the book’s launch, Fergie said: ‘My father was a young Gaelic speaker from a crofting community in Moidart when war broke out in 1914 and ended up at the sharp end of operations from Suvla Bay at Gallipoli to the Somme and the Western Front.
‘At Gallipoli he was a battalion sniper with his unit, which was the 1st Lovat Scouts. On the Western Front he was a trained sniper, observer and reconnaisance specialist, having graduated from the elite Lovat Scouts Sharpshooters (LSS) training course at Beauly in early 1917.
‘Over the years I collected letters, personal diary notes, detailed accounts by men who served with him in the battle zones of Gallipoli and the Somme, together with details of events recorded orally by my father.’
Fergie says his motive for compiling the account of his father’s war service now was to help preserve the history of such an illustrious, but little-known unit – the Lovat Scouts Sharpshooters (LSS) – after so much was lost due to the destruction of the War Office repository in the Blitz.
‘This being the case, I took it upon myself, with the help of my friend Allan Henderson, to document this important period of military history relating to the LSS, otherwise I feared it would have disappeared into historical oblivion and I couldn’t let this happen.’
The LSS was to be the British Army’s first dedicated sniper unit and many of the skills they perfected continue to influence military snipers and other special forces soldiers today.
Fergie says he is delighted with the way his tribute to his father and the soldiers of the Lovat Scouts Sharpshooters has turned out.
For The Right Reasons is a charity which aids people who want to conquer their drug or alcohol dependency and provides volunteering opportunities in its print shop.
‘For The Right Reasons has made a wonderful job of printing the book. It is a wonderful organisation and I had a lot of help with other aspects such as graphics and photographs. I’m very happy with the way the book has turned out and hope people, not just in Lochaber, but outwith the area enjoy reading it.’
The Moidart Sniper, by Fergie MacDonald with Allan Henderson, will be on sale in bookshops across the Highlands from Tuesday, while copies signed by the author can be bought via his website: www.fergiemacdonald.com