Burial: L Cpl John Morrison 27 July 2016

[MelPack]

It may have been overlooked because of all the major commemoration events but Lance Corporal John Morison 5183, Ist Battalion Black Watch is to be reburied next week on 27 July.

 

The CWGC announcement here: http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2016/7/burial-ceremony-in-france.aspx

 

Amended CWGC entry here: http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/854708/MORRISON, JOHN

 

 

[MelPack]

Some details on the soldier:

 

Lance Corporal John Morrison 5181

 

1^st Battalion Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)

 

 

 

John Morrison was born on 14 November 1885 at Inveravon, Banffshire in the Highlands of Scotland and was 29 years old when killed in action with the 1^st Battalion of the Black Watch on 25 January 1915.

He was the fourth of a family of seven children born to his parents, John and Margaret, between the years 1882-1893. His father worked as a gamekeeper who by the early 1890s was employed on the Brodie Castle Estate, Forres, Morayshire where he eventually became the Head Gamekeeper.

John followed in his father’s footsteps and also became a gamekeeper. At the outbreak of the war, he was employed on the Ardtornish Estate at Morvern, Argyllshire but decided to volunteer and travelled to Perth to enlist with the Black Watch on 7 September 1914.

After completing less than three months training, John was sent to France and Flanders disembarking on 2 December 1914. He joined the 1^st Battalion in the field the following day as one of a draft of 150 men to help rebuild the Battalion as a fighting unit after the huge losses suffered during the First Battle of Ypres that had subsided only ten days or so before.

Just days before Christmas 1914, the Battalion along with others of the Division received orders to redeploy from Ypres to the then southernmost part of the line held by the British army at Cuinchy to counter an anticipated advance by the enemy.

On the morning of 25 January 1915, four enemy mines were detonated in the notorious Brickstacks sector of the front and the line held by the Coldstream and Scots Guards was overwhelmed by a concerted attack.

Three companies of John’s Battalion along with other reinforcements were thrown into the line in a desperate attempt to stabilise the position. It was during the hours of bitter fighting that ensued that John became one of the 59 fatalities suffered by his Battalion that day.

Following his death, his parents received a letter from one of John’s comrades describing his last moments:

‘The attack was fierce, and John got a bullet in the leg. Nevertheless, he crawled to the assistance of his officer, also wounded, and was in the act of helping him to remove his pack when he was fatally shot. He was promoted Lance Corporal only a few days before.’

 

The officer concerned, 2^nd Lieutenant Willett, elaborated further on the circumstances of John’s death in a separate letter to his brother:

 

‘Some gallant fellow crawled up to me shortly after I was hit, and attempted to assist me off with my pack, but owing to the nature of my wound, I was unable to turn my neck sufficiently around to see who it was. I heard he was hit, and asked him if it was so. He replied: ‘Yes Sir’; and when I inquired later, I received no reply, but could just touch his hand by reaching back, and found he was dead. From the sound of his voice I thought it was your brother, who was in my Platoon, and I hoped it wasn’t so, and that I had made a mistake, for he was one of my most valued men ....  His end was a gallant one, and his was a peaceful conclusion to a career, which, had he been spared to prolong it, he could have looked back on with the justifiable pride of one who has done his work well.’

 

Before John’s remains were recovered, he was commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial along with the names of 53 of his other comrades who were also killed in action on the same day but have no known graves.

John’s death was not the only tragedy to touch the family. His brother, George, the youngest of the family, died of wounds on 11 April 1918 whilst serving as a Captain with the 1/6^th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders. George’s own son, John, born a little more than seven weeks before his father’s death was also killed in action as a Navigator Flight Lieutenant over Normandy just a month after D Day.

 

 

 

[MelPack]

A nice little article here: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/moray/958449/relatives-rememb

100 years after his death… Family of Moray soldier killed in WWI are tracked down by MoD

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Major Martin Stanning, OC C Company with Dr Ian Morrison and family member Shiela Thomson,

The descendants of a Moray soldier who was killed in World War I have been traced more than 100 years after his death.

The remains of Lance Corporal John Morrison, who came from Brodie, were discovered in France two years ago and DNA tests were carried out to identify his nearest living relatives.

Ministry of Defence experts tracked down LCpl Morrison’s 90-year-old nephew, Dr Ian Morrison, in Dingwall and his cousin, Sheila Thomson, in Forres – just two miles away from the infantryman’s family home.

Dr Morrison and Mrs Thomson have now paid what they described as a “poignant” visit to the Fort George barracks, near Ardersier, to learn more about their ancestor from a century ago.

And they will travel to France next month to observe a burial ceremony for the fallen 1st Battalion Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) soldier.

LCpl Morrison was killed in January 1915, aged 29, and his remains were discovered at Cuinchy, near Arras.

He was discovered with a spoon which had been engraved with his service number – 5181.

The object provided a vital clue in determining the soldier’s identity, along with insignia found with the body.

The MOD’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre subsequently carried out DNA tests and traced his nearest living relatives.

LCpl Morrison will be given a full ceremonial burial next month in Arras. The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, will provide soldiers to bear the coffin, fire the salute and play the pipes.

Dr Morrison said he was indebted to the efforts made by the military to link him with his “heroic” forebear.

He added: “My cousin and I have been immensely impressed and grateful for the investigative work carried out by the MOD’s JCCC, and by the Black Watch in honouring one of their own with a full ceremonial burial.

“This discovery has excited intense interest in the Morrison family, a number of whom intend to be present at the forthcoming ceremony in France.”

Beverley Simon, of the MOD’s JCCC team, said: “It is extremely rare but immensely satisfying to be able to trace living relatives of one of the many fallen heroes of the Great War.

“This is particularly poignant in the case of LCpl Morrison as the living relatives are so closely connected.”

 

[NigelS]

Daily Telegraph coverage WWI soldier whose remains were found 100 years after his death is laid to rest with full military honours

 

NigelS

[MelPack]

And some more coverage here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/world-war-1-black-watch-hero-finally-laid-to-rest

 

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/moray/986351/france-burial-for-moray-soldier/

 

 

[MelPack]

A google translation of an interesting little article in La Voix Du Nord:

 

Burial of a Scottish soldier to Cuinchy: the emotion behind the protocol

PUBLISHED ON 26.07.2016

BY ANNE CLAIRE GUILAIN (TEXT) and SEVERINE CURVE (PHOTOS)

Wednesday at 11 am, will be buried John Morrison, a Scottish soldier of 29 years, died January 25, 1915. And the military protocol and adjusted to the millimeter in no way remove the emotion felt during this tribute to a hero great War.

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" It'll be a beautiful ceremony ," says the mayor Dominique Delecourt. The town has already experienced two. Two burial ceremonies of unknown soldiers. But this time, the fallen in combat was identified: it is the Lance Corporal John Morrison.

His body was found close to the military cemetery and spoon at his side, indicating his number, helped to trace him. " 20 bodies of Commonwealth soldiers are found every year, but few people are identified ," says Beverley Simon, the JCCC, the organization responsible for the whereabouts of these " heroes of the Great War ." And even rarer are cases where we find the family of the deceased. " When my father received a call to tell him that the body of his uncle was found in France, he was very surprised and touched ." It's Eilidh Rennie, the niece of the soldier who tells this incredible family history at a press conference attended Tuesday night, an important and very involved Scottish delegation. " We knew that my grandfather had lost two brothers during the war. But we had no information . " Now his relatives know ... and that changes everything. " It's great knowing the details of his journey.And for our children is important. It creates a strong bond with a page of history that is not so old it "adds another niece, Fiona McPherson.

And it is indisputable, Wednesday, emotion is palpable. Is it because there will be a name on the grave? Is it because the family will be there? " We attach the same importance to burials of unknown soldiers, continues Simon Beverley. Because they are all heroes who died for our country ."

 

A model

duty to remember

This is obvious: the British are fully committed to organizing such events in the same way they treat their perfectionism with 600 military cemeteries in the region. As if the duty of remembrance was obvious. " The fact that he died far from home and so far from home ... The sacrifice is even greater ," said Colonel B. Veitch. And all Commonwealth soldiers say they are affected in their flesh, " as each regiment is a family ," says one of them, wearing a traditional kilt.

See you Wednesday at 11 am at the Military Cemetery CWGC Woburn Abbey Cuinchy to feel, between bursts, the prayers and anthems ... the emotion wants to share a whole country, and even beyond, the Commonwealth , paying tribute to a young man of 29 years, died there over 101 years has volunteered in the war, which saw die in France 575,000 British.

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/inhumation-d-un-soldat-ecossais-a-cuinchy-la-vive-ia30b53941n3652903?xtor=RSS-2

[Seadog]

Thanks for posting this Mel another soldier truly "In from the cold" and another case where DNA matching has proved invaluable. Beverley Simon, of the MOD’s JCCC team, this is a new name to me is this lady one of those additional staff appointed to the JCCC?.

 

Norman

[MelPack]

Cuinchy: John Morrison, died on 25 January 1915 finally rest in peace (VIDEO)

PUBLISHED ON 27.07.2016

BY ISABELLE MASTIN, PHOTOS JOHAN BEN AZZOUZ

1A few drops of rain and a lot of tears. Wednesday morning, eleven members of the family of John Morrison attended his burial ... over a hundred years after his death, at the front, somewhere near La Bassée. His remains were found by two farmers. They could be identified falls within the exceptional.

 

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The arrival of the casket of John Morrison, through a guard of honor of the Black Watch

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On the map, the soldier John Morrison is now based in the stele No. 26 

among 558 fellow combaants . Of youngsters mostly himself was not 30 years old when he fell near La Bassée. It was January 25, 1915 and it took over a century for the Scottish North, a volunteer , is entitled to a funeral worthy of his sacrifice. In December 2014, two farmers from the village found themselves his remains in a field (see below) and Wednesday, eleven family members wept over his grave; his great-nephews Backyard, who knew him his picture, were not the least

The ceremony, set to the millimeter by the Ministry of Defence and the Commonwealth , starts at 11 pm when the coffin carried by comrades of the prestigious Black Watch battalion, back alley in a guard of honor, preceded by the Reverend Stewart A. Mackay. In the distance, children's songs recall that during holidays rang in recreation centers. Less common is the song of the bagpipes that makes their echo. Folded so slowly that swear at idle, the flag is presented to a grand nephew back of John Morrison.

 

 

Respectfully, his coffin down into the earth before officials and some relatives there lay roses and poppies. bursts of honor startle the audience.

In the tender grass of the Woburn Abbey Cemetery, just after the ceremony, the family was able to collect only the grave. Eilidh Rennie lives in the Beaujolais is a French chastised she tells her emotion. " My father is 90 years old, it is he who has received a letter from the department. For us, it was a great surprise! It is a mixture of joy and sadness for those lives lost, they were all so young ... John was voluntary, he died in an act of bravery. "Echoing" to the absolute horror "that strikes France currently.

 

 

" We knew that his brother was buried in Lapugnoy. " With two farmers, John ended up missing the call. This este xceptionnel, according to the Commonwealth: a body of twenty British soldiers are found every year in the world, very few have a stele with their name.

 

 

ZOOM: MAJOR DATES

November 14, 1885: Birth of John Morrison in Tomintoul, in northern Scotland, fourth child of a family of seven, like his father, a vocation gamekeeper ... upset by the war..

September 7, 1914: it is a volunteer with the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch, prestigious Scottish regiment.

January 25, 1915: he died by jumping over a mine, not far from La Bassée (Read yesterday's edition).

July 27, 2016: he is buried at Woburn Abbey Cemetery. His remains were found in December 2014.

Two discrete but essential farmers

Without them, the ceremony would not take place and John Morrison still asleep in the anonymous and loam of the North. But Claude Lemaire and his father, the village farmers have not been hit from being honored in the speech of the mayor. Discrete, they followed the ceremony with great emotion. Claude's dad barely hold back his tears when asked his feelings.

Claude also was very touched, but modest, he does not seek honors. What he did, he saw it more as a duty accomplished. In December 2014, both were back in history the Lance Corporal John Morrison. " While plowing our field, behind the center of Violaines, we saw a bone. " Before John, they had already found two soldiers but this time, they understood that it might be possible to restore its name. " Out of curiosity, we scratched and found ammunition . "And then the famous spoon bearing the registration number 5181." We called the Commonwealth . "

 

"We thought there less"

The months passed, the time for DNA testing. Less than two years actually kick Centennial accelerator may oblige, but Claude admits " we thought it least. And then we got the call from the Ministry of Defence . "

It was there just one month. " Since we became interested in the story of John Morrison, was searched for information. " Yesterday, father and son were there, of course. " Tuesday, I harvested next, I saw the preparations and rehearsals for the arrival of the coffin. " At millimeter, it has not impressed when Claude was not disappointed with the result. For him, the war has a face.

http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/region/cuinchy-john-morrison-mort-le-25-janvier-1915-repose-ia30b53941n3654316

Edited 16 August , 2016 by MelPack