The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 3:46 pm Post subject:

TPR. STOTHART, T. R.A.C.
Thomas Dalrymple Stothart – age 34 – Trooper (7903927) 'B' Squadron, Nottinghamshire Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps.
Thomas was employed in the design department at Waverley Mills in Langholm and played in the town's rugby and cricket teams. He was killed on the second day of the battle of El Alamein and he was re-interred there in June 1945.
Born 1908 in Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. Son of the late John and of Elizabeth Anderson (Halliday) Stothart of Walter Street, Langholm.
Killed in Action on 24 October 1942 and buried in El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt.

PTE. TOCHRANE, J. K.O.S.B.
John Tochrane – age 28 – Private (3194176) 2nd Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers.
John was a grocer in the High Street, Langholm when he enlisted, together with his brother Tom, in April 1940. They went to India in May 1942.
2nd KOSB were in India when war broke out in September 1939. After jungle training in India they sailed with the 7th (Indian) Division to Burma in September 1943. They crossed into the Arakan, and saw action in the battles at Ngakydauk Pass and in the Admin Box in mid-February 1944.
John was buried in the battlefield cemetery at Akyab but was re-interred in Taukkyan in May 1952.
Born 1915 in Middlebie, Dumfriesshire. Son of David Ward Tochrane and of Jean (Bell) Tochrane of Moffat, Dumfriesshire.
Killed in Action on 17 February 1944 and buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar (Burma)
Also named on the Langholm Parish Church WW2 Memorial and on the Kirkpatrick Juxta Parish War Memorial in Beattock, Dumfriesshire.

GNR. VERE, A. R.A.
Andrew Vere – age 33 – Gunner (326799) 155 (The Lanarkshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.
Andrew had joined the Lanarkshire Yeomanry in 1939 and was captured at the fall of Singapore in February 1942. He was amongst 250 men transported on the “England Maru” in October 1942 to Formosa (Tiawan) to work in the Kinaseki Copper Mine. He slaved there until October 1944 when due to ill health he was transferred to the camp at Shirakawa where he died. He was re-interred in Sai Wan in July 1947.
Born 1911 at Caulside, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. Son of Jeanie or Jane Jardine (Vere) Grant and step-son of John James Grant of Langholm.
Died on Service on 14 April 1945 and buried in Sai Wan War Cemetery, Hong Kong, China.
Also named on the Langholm Parish Church WW2 Memorial and on the Canonbie War Memorial.

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2017 3:50 pm Post subject:

F/O. VEVERS, R. R.A.F.
Robert Vevers – age 24 – Pilot Officer (87653) Bomber Command, Royal Air Force.
Robert, of South Lodge, Langholm, was educated at Langholm and Dumfries Academies and was living in Edinburgh when he joined the RAF in February 1940. He was promoted from Leading Aircraftman (976937) to Pilot Officer (87653) in November 1940 and was onboard a Wellington bomber of 20 Operational Traing Unit when it took off from Lossiemouth for a night navigation exercise over the North Sea. It was last heard sending an SOS indicating that the port engine had failed and height could not be maintained. It is assumed that shortly after the aircraft went into the sea some 70 miles east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.
Born 1915 in Dunfermline, Fife. Son of the late John and Janet (McGibbon) Vevers of Dunfermline.
Died on Active Service/Lost at Sea on 28 November 1940 and named on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.
Also named on the Langholm Parish Church WW2 Memorial.

PTE. WARWICK, T. K.O.S.B.
Thomas Warwick – age 19 – Private (3189516) 5th Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers.
The 4th and 5th (Territorial) Battalions of the KOSB, part of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, landed at St. Malo in Brittany as part of a second British Expeditionary Force on the 13 June 1940 but France capitulated and on 18 June the battalions were taken off from Cherbourg. The army casualties buried in the cemetery are mostly men of the 5th KOSB, which was the covering battalion during the withdrawal.
Born 1920 in Langholm. Son of the late Thomas Armstrong Warwick and Jeannie (Miller) Warwick of 19 Eskdaill Place, Langholm.
Killed in Action on 18 June 1940 and buried in Cherbourg Old Communal Cemetery, France.
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Ken