The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

alexmaclennan

The American Monument, Mull of Oa, Islay
UKNIWM Ref No 44627

This entry in UKNIWM should be renamed ‘The American Monument’ as this is the name that the memorial is known by locally. It commemorates the loss of American servicemen on the Tuscania and Otranto, both of which were troopships torpedoed during WW1.

Grid Ref NR 300420
Car Park Grid Ref: NR 281430

The monument is over 20m tall. It is visible on the headland of the Mull of Oa miles from away across Loch Indaal. It is a stone built tower that is supposed to represent a lighthouse. It has a curved or conical top and there are two rows of small inset squares near the top, presumably as a representation of lights. There are several stone steps that lead to the brass inscription plaque mounted at the base of the tower, on the side away from the cliffs. There is no door or way into the tower. The plaque is almost the height and shape of a door. The plaque is over 2m tall and above the plaque is a bronze American eagle clutching a wreath in both talons. The wreath partly overlaps the main memorial inscription. Two thirds of the way up the tower, above the plaque, is a round flat blonde stone with 1918 inscribed upon it. The tower is situated close to high cliffs on the Mull of Oa which is on the South East aspect of the island of Islay. There is a well marked path through muddy fields to it from a carpark at Upper Killeyan Farm. It is just over 1 km from the carpark to the monument.

Memorial Inscription

SACRED
TO THE
IMMORTAL MEMORY
OF THOSE
AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
FOR
THEIR COUNTRY
IN THE
WRECKS OF THE TRANSPORTS
TUSCANIA AND OTRANTO
February 5th 1918 October 6th 1918
THE MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED BY
THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS
NEAR THE SPOT WHERE SO MANY OF
THE VICTIMS OF THE DISASTERS
SLEEP
IN
EVERLASTING PEACE

"On Fame's eternal camping ground,
their silent tents are spread,
while glory keeps with solemn round,
the bivouac of the dead."

On the ground opposite to the plaque and close to the cliff edge is a low square stone with a circular brass plaque inscribed with the following. The plaque is bordered by a wreath.

A TRIBUTE
FROM
WOODROW WILSON
PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA
TO THE MEMORY OF HIS
FELLOW CITIZENS
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES
FOR THEIR COUNTRY
IN
NEARBY WATERS
1918

http://www.hebridean-island-images.com/Islay/pages/American%20Monument%20on%20the%20Mull%20of%20Oa%20(ISLA%200039).htm

http://www.hebridean-island-images.com/Islay/pages/American%20Monument%20on%20the%20Mull%20of%20Oa%20(ISLA%200041).htm

http://www.hebridean-island-images.com/Islay/pages/American%20Monument%20on%20the%20Mull%20of%20Oa%20(ISLA%200043).htm

http://heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1377&id=1630312006

My digital images are of poor quality as they were taken in driving rain.

alex
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alex maclennan

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:45 am Post subject:

The first three links no longer work.
Maybe this one instead?
http://www.hebridean-island-images.com/Islay/index.html

The Loss of the Troopships Tuscania and Otranto
http://www.islayinfo.com/lord_robertson_islay_troopships.html
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Ken