Update from the Front

Further to last week’s report of the remembrance service for the start of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, we now have pictures of the events at Contalmaison, where John Simpson laid a wreath on behalf of the club.

Report
01/07/15
John travelled with McCrae’s Battalion Trust, formed to remember those who served in the 16th Royal Scots under Sir George McCrae. He had been a draper in Dunfermline and married to a local girl, and several of the battalion’s volunteers were footballers, rugby players and athletes from many sporting clubs, including Hearts, Hibs, Dunfermline, Raith Rovers, East Fife, Falkirk and St Bernards.

They were known as the finest battalion in Lord Kitchener’s Army, and achieved the deepest advance into the German lines on 1 July 1916, reaching the tiny but heavily-fortified village of Contalmaison after dreadful losses: three-quarters of them were killed or wounded, including Davie Izatt and Jimmy Morton of DAFC, whose bodies were never found and whose names are on the nearby Thiepval Memorial. Davie and Jimmy were among seven Pars players who died during the war, the others being Jock Frail, James Gray, David Halliday, Douglas Morgan and Wull Strang.

After the remembrance service, the villagers of Contalmaison put on a welcome meal for the visitors, and as well as officials and supporters of the football clubs, the Scottish Government was represented by Keith Brown, and the City of Edinburgh by Baillie Norman Work. There were also 4 sixth-year students from Denny and West Calder High Schools and a group of (almost equally) young soldiers from the Personnel Recovery Unit at Craigiehall, who are recovering from a variety of injuries sustained on recent active service. The future of remembrance belongs to the young, to ensure that the awful slaughter of World War One is never repeated.

The tour also included visits to a number of battle sites and cemeteries of particular significance to those travelling, including the grave of John’s great-uncle and that of James Speedie, the first Hearts player to die during the war, and the unique German/British cemetery at St Symphorien, near Mons.

For the 100th anniversary commemoration in 2016, the Dunfermline Athletic Heritage Trust hopes to organise a trip to Contalmaison and other sites on the Western Front, in conjunction with McCrae’s Battalion Trust. Anyone interested in going on this tour should contact Donald Adamson at donaldadamson@btinternet.com
or enquiries@daht.org.uk
Lest we forget.

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