Tragedy of my proud grandad who had to be buried by two of his brothers
AS we approach the 100th anniversary of the end of First World War, we are telling the stories of the ordinary people who made an extraordinary sacrifice for our country. Here Stuart Watt, 83, from Edinburgh, pays tribute to his grandfather, Thomas Crichton, who was killed in Belgium.
My grandfather was the first to be killed in the 9th (Highlanders) Battalion Territorial Force. He was 36 years old.
They were known as the Dandy Ninth because they wore the Hunting Stewart tartan and followed the dress pattern of The Gordon Highlanders, as you can see from this photo. Thomas served in the war as a marksman and had won a prize at Bisley Shooting Ground for his skills. But, as his ship landed in Belgium in 1915, he was shot through the head and killed.
He was an acting sergeant at the time, and a very patriotic
man. He was very proud to be serving in the war. Even sadder was that two of his brothers, also on the ship, had to bury him behind a trench.
The sniper who killed him got shot himself by a sergeant of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders later. I don’t know what happened to the other six brothers, pictured from the left, David, John, Sandie, Robert, William and James.
One was affected by mustard gas, but that is all. I only know what happened to Thomas because of what my grandmother Christine told me about him when I was little.
She did go on to marry again, but never told me the last thing she said to my grandfather before he went off on the ship that day.
She died when I was 20 years old. Thomas’s name is now on the war memorial in Belgium and up in Edinburgh Castle. I always feel great pride in seeing his name when I visit.