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spoons
Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 4991 Location: St John's Town of Dalry
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 6:55 pm Post subject: Sec Lieut W C Douglas, Kirkbean |
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UKNIWM 44320
Location in Kirkbean church at OS Map Ref: NX 980 591
Name: DOUGLAS, WILLIAM CAMPBELL
Initials: W C
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Lieutenant
Regiment/Service: King's Own Scottish Borderers
Unit Text: 3rd Bn. attd. 1st Bn.
Age: 21
Date of Death: 17/08/1917
Additional information: Son of William Davis Douglas and Annie Douglas, of School House, Kirkbean, Dumfries.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: IV. B. 4.
Cemetery: DOZINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY
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Stewartry
Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 274 Location: nr Nottingham
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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Stewartry RoH, 1927:
Douglas, 2nd Lieutenant William Campbell. Schoolhouse, Kirkbean.
Enlisted November 1914, as Private, London Scottish. Transferred to KOSB. Served on Western Front. Died of wounds, 17th August 1917.
The KOSB in the Great War - 16th Aug 1917, Battle of Langemarck:
The fight was over and the work of consolidation begun by 8am. The C.O. sent Capt J Watt to the nearest gun-pit to transmit the glad news to Brigade HQ, which was fortunate for that excellent officer. Hardly had he gone when Battalion HQ received a direct hit ..... were wounded, including the whole HQ personnel, Lieut.-Col. AJ Welch (badly burned), A/Capt AN Lewis, the Adjutant, and 2nd Lieut. WC Douglas of the 3rd Battalion, who died the next day, the promising intelligence officer of the battalion. It is interesting to recall how he came to hold that post. 2nd Lieut. Oliphant had been I.O. since the institution of the office in the spring of 1916, and he and Sert. Guy Boothby were as well known to the battalion as the C.O. "Me an' Oliphant" formed a strong combination, and as we shall see, Oliphant became 87th Brigade I.O. But on this occasion he had obtained leave to return to his platoon and go over the top. Douglas was the obvious man to succeed him, and it was his fate to be killed in the position which at first sight anyone would pronounce the less danderous of the two.
It should be noted that 16th Aug 1917 at the Battle of Langemarck was perhaps the most celebrated day of the KOSB in WW1. Two Warrant Officers of the 1st KOSB were awarded the Victoria Cross - CSM Skinner and CQMS Grimaldeston. One of the best lines I have read about a WW1 soldier concerns CSM Skinner - "Skinner was ever the bravest of the brave, and, if he had been the wisest of the wise, the balance of nature would have been awry." Unfortunately, he was killed in action in March 1918. CQMS Grimaldeston survived the war. _________________ www.sonsofgalloway.org.uk
5th KOSB
Stewartry RoH
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