Newsletter No1 - August 2007 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

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As we walked towards the centre of the cemetery past lines uponlines of headstones I noticed a couple of Glasgow Highlanders soldiersheadstones and unbelievably there was the headstone of thesoldier I had picked off of the Internet to try and find: Pte D Diamondof the Glasgow Highlanders (9 th Battalion Highland LightInfantry) and that is where I placed my cross of remembrance.A short church parade followed then a photograph of the party wastaken then we moved off to the airport for our journey home.Closing Comments’s: The tour certainly brought out our original aims to look at the core values adoptedby the British Army and as stated at the beginning many soldiers carried these core values out to the full,with many examples given these individuals gave the ultimate sacrifice by laying down their life in honouringthese values.It was an honour to be allowed to participate in the tour as all of those who attended left having beenshown the conditions that these soldiers fighting in the trenches endured.It may appear to be a long story but my aim was to try and capture the soldiers story athough my tour onlylasted four days—remember their tour for those who survived what was called a war to end all wars lastedfour yearsDingerYOUR STORYI have started the newsletter with 3 of my stories which I hope gives you theurge to put pen to paper—my Shock and Awe story is a long one but there wasjust so much to write about in my short visit of the battlefields of World WarOne—I had never taken any real interest in the First World War but the touropened my eyes to the conditions and situations that soldiers like you or Iwould have met had we been in their situation.Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
A WEE HOOSE IN MARYHILL CALLEDTHE HAUF HOOSEA few years ago in the RHF Regimental journal a picture appeared of an old house that used to stand wherethe 52 nd Lowland Regiments TA Centre now stands and I would like to add to the story of the house.The Half House as it appeared in the journal – the building in the background are in Shakespeare StreetIn 1972 when I joined the 1 st Battalion 52 nd Lowland Volunteers there was an old gentleman called JohnCarrick who used to come into the TA Centre and help out in the kitchen by washing up and generallyhelping out, in those days security was not a major issue and John would occasionally pop into the JRC fora pint after he had finished working in the kitchen. John used to mention a building which he called theHalfway House, saying it was an old white building that was situated in the grounds prior to the TA Centre.He spoke of “meeting” the ghost of the occupants of the building many times at first I thought it was thespirits he was drinking that made him mention the old building. Many years passed and John passed awayand just recently a copy of the picture was sent to me by Major Shaw from RHQ. He sent it to me outof interest and it brought back statements that John Carrick mentioned in our many talks we had in the bar.Fascinated by receiving the photo I made a point of trying to find out more about the building that stoodwhere Walcheren Barracks now stands. I phoned Major Shaw who told me that the photograph had beenpassed to him by Major Mack and it had came from a book called “Along Great Western Road” which hadbeen written by a Gordon R Urquhart an American. Eventually I tracked down Gordon who told me thathe had written the book because no one else had done it! When he arrived in Glasgow he had an interest inthe area and had tried to find out about the area and since there was very little information he decided abook had to be produced to allow other visitors to find out about the area. Although there is very little inthe book concerning the actual building this lead me to visit the Mitchell Library where I found a linedrawing of the building dated 1874, the building itself looking exactly as it was in the photograph in thejournal.After making many enquiries in local shops I went back to Gordon to show the drawing I had found and toask if he had any more information concerning the old building. He told me it had been called “The WhiteCottage” or “the Half House” the reason for the half house was that was exactly what it looked like “half ahouse”, it appears as if it was part of Garrioch Estate possibly the gatehouse or game keepershouse leading to the estate, he produced a leaflet dated 1951 and this is what was written about the “HalfHouse”Moving North along Garrioch Road from Kirklee Bridge you cannot fail to notice, at the foot of ShakespeareStreet, facing southwards, a queer little white-washed cottage. The ecclesiastical style of it’s architectureat once attracts attention, there being two Gothic windows with what looks like a large built-updoorway between them. Above the latter, in the middle of the gable, is a small diamond shaped window,
Page 1 and 2: GLASGOW HIGHLANDERSASSOCIATIONNEWSL
Page 3 and 4: GLASGOW HIGHLANDERSNemo Me Impune L
Page 5 and 6: After leaving the Cloth Building we
Page 7 and 8: All movement to the forward trenche
Page 9 and 10: After our visit it was off again to
Page 11: Moving on we arrived at Hooge Chape
Page 15 and 16: I hope that you have enjoyed readin

Newsletter No1 - August 2007 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

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