IN THEIR OWN WORDS

PRIVATE KEMP recalls his capture in his memoirs, which also tell how his brother was caught up in the gunfire.

“Despite the overwhelming odds against us, we held out until the 7th of June,” he wrote.

“The climax was reached when the Germans launched an attack with machine and Tommy guns.

“The upshot of the unequal fight being that we had to submit to capture. My brother Callum received his wound the previous day.

“I was near him when he was struck and saw him being led away to receive First Aid attention.

“I went forward and spoke to him. ‘Keep your chin up,’ I said, ‘and you will be all right.

“‘I will get you out of this yet.’ Callum’s reply was: ‘I will be all right, you watch yourself.’

“Then we were driven in motor lorries to a camp north of Abbeville, and here we found prisoners from other Scots regiments and many French and Senegalese troops.”

From A Gaelic Odyssey – The Three Musketeers Of Ballachulish, by William Kemp.