Influenza claims ‘kindly and obliging’ soldier

Balfron villagers were saddened to learn of the death from influenza of Pte John McLaggan.

The eldest son of Mr and Mrs McLaggan, Hillhead, Balfron, he succumbed to effects of the disease in Calais.

He joined the A&SH some months earlier having before worked with Mr A Dundas, baker.

He was a ‘kindly and obliging’ man and a ‘great favourite’ with the many who knew him.

News reached Buchlyvie that a soldier from the village had been awarded the Military Medal.

Pte James McPhie, son of the late Mr James MacPhie, merchant, Buchlyvie, received the accolade for an incident in which his company suffered heavy losses.

No fewer than 29 men had been killed and 53 wounded and surrender appeared inevitable unless reinforcements could be summoned.

Pte McPhie responded readily to his captain’s request for a volunteer.

Crossing ground devoid of cover, while under fire from several German machine guns, he was able to get help and get the reinforcements needed to save his company’s position.

Pte McPhie had emigrated to Canada seven years earlier and headed to France with the Canadian Mounted Rifles.

“For 28 months he was in the thick of the fighting without receiving a scratch,” said the Observer.

Pte James McInoy, Black Watch, was the fourth prisoner of war from the area to return home so far, the Observer said.

He had seen a good deal of fighting in France but was taken prisoner during the German spring offensive in 1918.

The Observer said: “He was a stretcher bearer and could have escaped being taken prisoner but stuck to his duty in attending wounded comrades and fell into enemy hands.”

Mr and Mrs Ross, Rose Cottage, Old Doune Road, Dunblane, learned their son, William, a sergeant in 4th Battalion Royal Highlanders and 1-7 King’s African Rifles , had been made a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold, King of the Belgians.

He was mobilised with the Territorials at the start of the war and served two years in France.

In May, 1917, he was sent out to East Africa to “clear the Germans out of British territory.”

For his excellent work in the campaign he was Mentioned In Dispatches.

“The honour conferred on him (by King Leopold) was further tribute to his services,” said the Observer.

Before the war, Sgt Ross served an apprenticeship with Messrs J&W Guthrie, joiner.

In Gartmore, Gnr C Thomson, Royal Garrison Artillery, was home on leave, as was Kippen pair Gnr James Simpson, also RGA, and Pte Andrew Lennie, Seaforths, who was recovering from being “gassed and burnt.”