Memorial unveiling, 7th November.

[Guest JoyLFC]

A memorial is to be unveiled in Contalmaison on Sunday 7th November to the men of the 16th Battalion Royal Scots. The service starts at 10.45 and all are welcome.

[Guest private, 2nd worch. btn.]

could you give me the spot where to be in Contalmaison? Is it in the village, or somewhere between the fields?

[Malcolm]

Details here. http://www.heartsgreatwarmemorial.org.uk/contalmaison.html

I'll be there in spirit unless the Lotto comes up.

Aye

Malcolm

[Michelle Young]

Wayne visited Contalmaison 2 weeks ago and got a photo of the memorial, it is on the open space by the church. If my new computer gets installed later this week, I'll try to post a photo. I have to say that my first impression when seeing the photo was that it looked like a dalek!

[Stephen Nulty]

A bit more on this story, copied from “The Sunday Post” of 31/10/04.

"The last of the Great War monuments nears completion on the battlefields of the Somme this week....85 years after it was first proposed.

Four bronze plaques are being shipped to France to be attached to a magnificent 14-foot cairn in the village of Contalmaison to commemorate the sacrifices of the 16th Battalion Royal Scots during the “Big Push” on the Somme.

Sometimes referred to as the Sportsman’s Battalion because of its connections with football teams like Hearts, Hibs, Falkirk, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers, more than 770 officers and men were slaughtered on July 1, 1916.

Only 40 survived.

Six members of the Hearts first team and half a dozen of the second team had enlisted after hearing a call to arms by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George MacRae. They were followed by 150 Hibs supporters and players and fans from Falkirk, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers.

When the survivors returned home in 1919, they mooted the idea of a cairn in Contalmaison as a monument to their fallen comrades. Designs were drawn up, but later shelved due to a lack of money. The plans were rediscovered 14 years ago by Edinburgh author and historian Jack Alexander, w3hile researching his book, “MacRae’s Battalion”.

....

A self made man, Sir George became a campaigning philanthropist and MP for \Edinburgh Central. At the outbreak of the war he was given permission by the War Office to raise his own battalion. .......The result was a remarkable 1347 officers and men rallied to his standard in under six days.

.........

“On the first day of the Battle of The Somme”, explains Jack Alexander, “they managed a three mile advance – the longest on the day of the “Big Push”, in the teeth of a ring of German machine gun fire. Sir George died in 1928, a broken man, largely because of his experiences on The Somme”.

Keen to see the memorial finally built, Jack painstakingly traced members of the dead soldiers’ families, about 1000 in all, about the prospect of raising the £60,000 it would take.

“Them m oney began to come in,” says Jack,” sometimes as little as a fiver but there were also much larger cheques. Edinburgh Council donated £5000. Supporters of Hibs and Hearts have also been generous.

“Stone masons from West Calder went out in July and built the cairn within three weeks. It’s made of Clashach sandstone from Elgin, based on the original designs.”

The final touches will be made this week with the addition of four plaques which have been cut in Nairn and shipped out from Rosyth.

Hundreds of well-wishers, including family members of the original MacRae soldiers, are planning to attend the unveiling ceremony on Sunday 7th November".

SN