The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

[spoons]

Not listed on UKNIWM

Location inside parish church at OS Map Ref NX 423 515

The names listed are:

John M Laverie
John McGhie
Charles K McGowan
William McKie
Matthew Morrison
Andrew Muir
Alexander Reid
Walter N A Rodger

[spoons]

[Kenneth Morrison]

JOHN M. LAVERIE.

John Muir Laverie, Private (3197642) 5th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers. Age 22.
Born 1922 in Whithorn, Wigtownshire as John Muir. Son of Violet Muir and step-son of William Laverie.
Killed in Action on 28 December 1944 and buried in Brunssum War Cemetery, Netherlands.
Also named on a WW2 Memorial plaque in Whauphill Village Hall.
Brunssum was liberated in September 1944 by U.S. Forces. They were shortly afterwards followed by the British 43rd Division and then by the 52nd (Lowland) Division, which included the 4th and 5th Battalions of the KOSB.

[Kenneth Morrison]

JOHN McGHIE.

John McGhie, Sergeant (541465) 224 Squadron, Royal Air Force. Age 22.
John's Lockheed Hudson had taken off from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to escort a convoy but was never heard from again.
Born 1918 in Port William, Mochrum, Wigtownshire. Son of James and Agnes (Nicholson) McGhie of Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire.
Missing in Action on 25 October 1940 and named on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
Also named on a WW2 Memorial plaque in Whauphill Village Hall.
No.224 Squadron was a Coastal Command squadron that in October 1940 was flying Lockheed Hudsons, primarily from RAF Leuchars, on patrols over the North Sea looking for German ships as well as providing convoy escorts. .

[Kenneth Morrison]

CHARLES K. McGOWAN.

Charles Kavanagh McGowan, Distinguished Service Cross, Master: S.S. St. Sunniva (Aberdeen), Merchant Navy. Age 40.
Born 1902 in Ballinagrane, Borris, Co. Carlow, Ireland. Son of William and Margaret (Parker) McGowan of Barnbarroch, Whauphill, Wigtownshire. In 1911 the family were at Merton Hall, Penninghame where William was a gamekeeper.
Charles was educated at the Douglas Ewart High School in Newton Stewart.
Husband of Isabella Helen (McBride) McGowan of Bishopton, Renfrewshire who he married in 1942 in Erskine, Renfrewshire

ADMIRALTY. Whitehall. 27th October, 1942.
“For fortitude, seamanship and endurance in taking Merchantmen to North Russia through heavy seas and in the face of relentless attacks by enemy aircraft and submarines:
The Distinguished Service Cross to Captain Charles Kavanagh McGowan, Master.”

Lost at Sea on 22 January 1943 and named on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
Also named on a WW2 Memorial plaque in Whauphill Village Hall.
The St. Sunniva disappeared without trace whilst serving as rescue ship with a transatlantic convoy (it is presumed that her masts and rigging became encrusted with ice and she turned turtle). She was lost with all hands.

Charles McGowan's older brother was lost in WW1 and is named on the Penninghame Parish War Memorial in Newton Stewart.
William Anthony McGowan, Third Mate, S.S. Kalibia (Glasgow) Mercantile Marine. Age 22.

[Kenneth Morrison]

WILLIAM McKIE.

William McKie, Leading Seaman (D/SSX 26058) H.M.S. Tartar, Royal Navy. Age 21.
William was born and brought up in Kirkinner. He joined the navy in 1938 and served at Norway and in the North Atlantic, including at the sinking of the Bismark. He was killed in an accident on board his ship while it was undergoing a major refit in the Royal Albert Dock in London.
Born 1920 in Kirkinner, Wigtownshire. Son of John and Annie (Barr) McKie of Barholm Cottage, Creetown, Kirkcudbrightshire.
Accidentally Killed on Active Service on 14 September 1941 and buried in Kirkinner Cemetery, Wigtownshire. (CWG)
Also listed on the Kirkmabreck Parish War Memorial in Creetown.

[Kenneth Morrison]

MATTHEW MORRISON.

Matthew Morrison, Flying Officer (164290) 355 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Age 29.
Matthew's Liberator bomber was brought down by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on the town of Prome (now Pyay) in Burma.
Born 1915 in Kirkinner. Son of William and Mary (Craik) Morrison of Kirkinner.
Matthew was educated at the Douglas Ewart High School in Newton Stewart.
Missing in Action on 19 March 1945 and named on the Singapore Memorial, Singapore.
No.355 Squadron was formed at Salbani, India on 18 August 1943, to be part of No.184 Wing in No.221 Group. Towards the end of October its Liberators arrived and bombing operations began on 20 November. Attacks on Japanese bases in south-east Asia were maintained until the end of the war.

[Kenneth Morrison]

ANDREW MUIR.

Andrew Muir, Aircraftman 1st Class (574540) Royal Air Force. Age 21.
Born 1922 in Wigtown. Parents not known. He was the ward of Elizabeth Litterick of Kirkinner.
Died as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese on 18 September 1943 and buried in Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia.
Ambon island lies close to the south west coast of Ceram in the Molucca Group of islands.
The cemetery contains the remains of soldiers who died during the Japanese invasion of Ambon and Timor, plus those who died in captivity in one of the many camps on the Moluccas Islands, including many British prisoners who were transferred from Java.

[Kenneth Morrison]

ALEXANDER REID.

Alexander Reid, Private (2875552) 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders. Age 23.
Born 1916 in Kirkinner. Son of ? (yet to be identified)
Killed in Action on 5 June 1940 and buried in London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, Somme, France.
After the initial operations against the German forces and as the B.E.F. retreated to Dunkirk, the 51st Highland Division retired to form a defensive perimeter around the small port of St. Valéry-en-Caux. On 12 June 1940 the Division was isolated, abandoned and forced to surrender.

[Kenneth Morrison]

WALTER N. A. RODGER.

Walter Nisbet Alston Rodger, Private (2816746) 4th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders. Age 39.
Born 1905 in Glassford, Lanarkshire. Son of James Crawford Rodger and of Margaret (Adam) Rodger. Husband of Jeanie (Blair) Rodger of Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire who he married in 1939 in Kirkinner.
Died as a Prisoner of War of the Germans on 22 January 1945 and named on the Dunkirk Memorial, France.
After the initial operations against the German forces and as the B.E.F. retreated to Dunkirk, the 51st Highland Division formed a defensive perimeter around the small port of St. Valéry-en-Caux. On 12 June 1940 the Division was isolated, abandoned and forced to surrender.
Walter became a prisoner of war (POW No.14966) at Stalag 20A, Thorn, Podgorz in Poland.
When in early January 1945 the Russian troops advanced from the East, the prisoners of Stalag 20A were marched out into Germany, through a Polish winter. Many men died during this march and the survivors were finally liberated by the Americans, far into Germany.
_________________
Ken

[stuartn]

This is now WMA, ex UKNIWM, memorial 72029