The Scottish War Memorials Project

spoons · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject: 7th KOSB - Arnhem

I came across this Roll of Honour in the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum (OS Map Ref: NX 999 786). It is not, as you might expect, in the Airborne forces part of the museum but is in the Aerodrome Control Tower.

Not listed on UKNIWM.

This has the look of something that has been produced as part of a print run, so other examples may exist elsewhere.

It set the old brain cogs going and it seems to me that I have seen some blanks of the 'certificate' with just the border and nothing in the centre at sometime in the past. You will note that the border mentions Korea so it is obviously later than Arnhem which it commemorates. I was serving with 1KOSB 35 years ago, do I remember the blanks as part of the stocktake of PRI? If so, there may be similar KOSB memorials (other than Arnhem) elsewhere. Can anyone shed any light on a half forgotten memory?

DerekR · Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:51 pm Post subject:

I can't recall seeing anything similar elsewhere relating to the KOSB on my travels.

I was fortunate to know a 7th KOSB veteran of Arnhem who managed to escape back over the river rather than fall into German hands.
An amazing character who sadly passed away a couple of years back.
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There must be a place under the sun where hearts of olden glory grow young .....

Adam Brown · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:29 am Post subject:

I wondered why the action at Arnhem was singled out for a 7th Bn RoH. It is because this was the only time during the Second World War that this battalion was in action.

It had been formed as a duplicate of the 5th T.A. Bn in 1939 as part of the newly formed 15th (Scottish) Division. It served in 44th Brigade in England until October 1942 when the Division was reorganised and 7th KOSB moved to the Northern Isles as part of the Orkney and Shetland Defences.
After a stay in Shetland and then Orkney the battalion was converted in late 1943 as an airborne unit as part of 1st Airlanding Brigade, 1st Airborne Division. During training there was a serious accident on 4th April 1944 when a Stirling bomber towing a Horsa glider crashed. Twenty six 7th Bn men were killed along with the two glider pilots and the six RAF crew of the Stirling.

At Arnhem the battalion was landed in 56 gliders and between 17th and 25th September was involved in heavy fighting defending a dropping zone at Ginkel Heath and the 'white house' at Oosterbeek until forced to withdraw across the Rhine on the morning of the 26th.

The battalion suffered such a high loss at Arnhem that it was placed in suspended animation until 1945. Its last wartime role was to go to Norway as part of the force accepting the German surrender and in November 1945 it was disbanded.

Adam
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Scottish Monuments & Memorials

spoons · Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:41 am Post subject:

Name: FERGUSON, ROBERT
Initials: R
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Serjeant
Regiment/Service: King's Own Scottish Borderers
Unit Text: 7th (Airborne) Bn.
Age: 31
Date of Death: between 20/09/1944 and 21/09/1944
Service No: 3190462
Additional information: Son of William and Margaret Ferguson; husband of Mary Ferguson, of Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 4.
Memorial: GROESBEEK MEMORIAL

He is also listed on the Dalry memorial and the Dalry Town Hall memorial.