Soldier heading off for rest break killed by shell

A Bannockburn soldier was killed by a shell as he was leaving the front line for a break from the fighting.

Pte John Wark, 22, was the son of Mr and Mrs William Wark, Helenslea, Bannockburn. He joined the Highland Cyclists Battalion at the start of the war and was later transferred to the Warwickshire Regiment. Pte Wark was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July, 1916, and later transferred to the Black Watch with whom he had 11 months hard fighting.

The Observer said Pte Ward had been engaged in the Germans’ latest big offensive and was one of the few from his unit to emerge unscathed. However, a short time later he died in a shell explosion as he was heading for some rest and recreation. Respected in the village, he was a miner at Plean Colliery before joining up and connected with the Bannockburn Shepherds and Rechabite societies.

There was mixed news for two other Bannockburn families. That of Patrick Travers, Quakerfield, were delighted to learn he had received the Military Medal. The 28-year-old former Fallin miner enlisted in the Army Service Corp in April, 1915, and later worked as an ambulance driver with the Royal Army Medical Corps. There was a period of anxiety for Bannockburn couple Mr and Mrs D Gray following a report their son, James, had been posted missing . He was also in the HCB but had transferred to the Black Watch. James was a member of the Bannockburn Reed Band and before enlisting was a miner in Cowie. Mr and Mrs Gray had another son who was a prisoner of war in Germany.

Mrs Jeffrey, 9 Maxwell Place, Stirling, was notified her husband had suffered a gunshot wound in the right thigh and left ankle and was in hospital in Warrington. The ex-platform porter at Stirling Station enlisted in February, 1915, and was slightly wounded a year later. He told his wife that although weak he was progressing.

There was also an honour for Miss Colville, 12 Park Place, Stirling. The Serbian Relief Fund announced the Crown Prince of Serbia had conferred on her the Medal of Merit. She had just completed a term of service with the Scottish Women’s Hospital in Corsica.

The Observer said the news would bring great satisfaction in local Scout and Voluntary Aid Detachment circles, She had been connected with the VAD – units of civilians providing volunteer nursing care for military personnel – since 1910, and was also scout mistress with No 5 Troop, Boy Scouts, Cambusbarron.

On the home front, Henry Featherstone, motor mechanic, Fallin, appeared at Stirling Sheriff Court charged with being in the unlawful possession of a pair of military field glasses. He admitted the charge and said he bought the binoculars from a woman in Fallin and was“quite unaware”they were the property of the military. He was fined £2 10 shillings.