224012 Cpl. Robert Young British Army 7th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders from:Kilsyth, Stirlingshire My father, Robert Young, joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 7th (Territorial )Battalion on 19th March 1912 and was discharged on 22nd January 1919.
He subsequently joined the RAF as an Equipment Assistant from 13th August 1919 until 22nd January 1939, gaining the rank of Flight Sergeant. He was by then considered to be too old to serve in the Second World War, having been born in February 1892.
I have in my possession a booklet entitled "The 7th(Territorial) Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders In France" written by T. Hogg of Kilsyth. It gives an excellent account of the second battle of Ypres, I quote:
"On the night of 23rd May (1915) the Battalion was ordered to take over a part of the line in front of Wieltje, on the right of the Wieltje St, Julien Road. On the morning of the 24th, about two o-clock, the rations and mails were received, but before they were all issued it was time to stand to. At 2.30 there was a faint glow in the sky to the east, and seen very dimly were two black observation balloons high up in the sky behind the enemy lines. About 2.45, when the enemy trenches, a hundred yards distant were just visible, each balloon dropped a great green light. Immediately away in the distance could be heard the boom of guns, and a second later the air was filled with the screech of shells. Simultaneously a yellowish-greenish vapour issued at intervals of thirty yards from the German trenches and so probably started THE GREATEST GAS ATTACK OF THE WAR. For four and a half hours the gas came over the British lines in high waves, and during the whole time the German artillery poured shells of every description in to our trenches. Respirators consisting of cotton waste had been issued, and although by no means a perfect protection, they certainly saved the lives of many men. On the right of the road was a Company consisting of Kilsyth, Falkirk and Lennoxtown men, and it was at this road that the enemy was doing its utmost to break through. The length of the trench (200 yards) was held by 25 men with one machine gun. Three times the enemy threw his weight against this portion of the line, three times he was driven back by this handful of men. Alone did one man the machine gun, and three times did the Germans get to within ten yards of it, but they never reached it, thanks to the plucky stand made by Pte. Robert Young of Kilsyth (my father). Although writhing in agony and gasping for breath, feeling as if their throats were on fire and that their lungs would burst, that handful of men held on. One by one officers and men fell, rifles became clogged with mud, food was destroyed by gas, water there was none, and piece by piece the trench was being blown in; but our lads were determined to pay back with interest what they had received from the Germans a month previously. The 2nd Seaforths came to the assistance, but they had lost heavily on the way up. Together these two Highland regiments stood shoulder to shoulder and defied the Hun and all his barbarous methods. It was a glorious as well as a sad day, but it was the boast of the 7th Argylls that they never lost a trench."
My grandfather, Alex Young, received Army Form B.104-80A informing him that his son, Pte Robert Young (my father) had been Asphyxiated (gas poisoning) on 26th May 1915 and had been admitted to 11 Stationary Hospital, Rouen, France. Luckily he survived or I would not have been born when he was at the grand age of 61!
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