Horrors of the Somme rarely spoken
The Battle of the Somme was one of the major offensives of World War One which saw hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides lose their lives.
One man who survived the fighting and was back in uniform during World War Two was Robert Cooper, father of former Stirling estate agent Lynne Melville.
Lynne, who lives in Bridge of Allan, is rightly proud of her father’s heroic record of military service.
Raised in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, Mr Cooper joined the Cameronians Scottish Rifles at the start of the war when he was only 16 and fought at Ypres as well as the Somme.
In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Cameronians were billeted at Cambusbarron. And it was there, at a dance, that he met his wife-to-be Helen Bell, who was from Ayrshire but working as a lady’s maid at a house in King’s Park.
The couple, who settled at 8 Gillies Hill, Cambusbarron, had eight children but only two now survive - Lynne and her brother Kenny, who also lives in Bridge of Allan.
Mr Cooper worked with Stirling Cooperage between the wars but following the outbreak of WW2 he re-joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as a sergeant instructor on bren carriers.
A serious accident ended his soldiering career but he later worked with the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) Command workshop.
Mr Cooper, a notable footballer in his younger days with St Ninians Thistle, Cowie Juveniles and King’s Park, died in 1973 aged 75.
Lynne said her father rarely spoke about the horror of the trenches.