Relatives of a Cambusnethan man who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in battle during World War I paid tribute to him this week in a poignant ceremony.
Private William Johnstone Milne was the first man from the Wishaw area to be awarded a VC.
The Lanarkshire man had emigrated to Canada prior to the war but signed up to serve in 1915 and fought in France, where he was killed in action at the Battle of Vimy Ridge after heroically capturing two machine gun posts.
Over a century later two of his cousins, Nancy Watford and Mary Watford Armes, travelled to Scotland from the United States and visited Newmains War Memorial where they laid wreaths.
Mary said: “We were born in Washington DC and our mother was from Ottawa and our father from Florida.
“We always went to Canada to see family and this is like connecting with family, it’s such a privilege to do this.
“In the United States a lot of the World War I monuments have sort of fallen by the wayside, in a way I think it’s because we’ve been so focused on World War II. My father was over here in Britain during WWII, my mother came from Canada attached to the embassy to work in WWII, and my brother was in Vietnam.
“We were just going to stop by and lay a wreath but it’s fantastic with the representatives from the Legion, and the school
“I think it’s great the attention that’s been given.”
The sisters’ interest was first stirred by an old black and white photo they have of another relative pictured with WIlliam Milne before he signed up to fight in the war.
Nancy said: “We really feel it was an important thing to do, to recognise him. He emigrated to Canada and we have a photograph of my mother’s uncle and they were sitting on a bench together in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where he worked.
“They were the same age and we thought there must be a big connection between them, so we started to research and found out he and my grandma were cousins, and their grandmothers were sisters from Aberdeenshire.”
Alistair Allan from Lanarkshire Historical Society was among those in attendance. He has written a number of books on the war and knows the Cambusnethan soldier’s story better than most.
He said: “Private Milne was part of my research and was actually born about 200 yards from where I currently stay, down in Anderson Street which no longer exists. He went to Newmains Primary and became an apprentice moulder at the Coltness iron works, that was where Asda sits right now.
"He must have got fed up with that and went to work as a farm labourer at Herdshill Farm, which still exists, it’s on the road out to Law Village. Then he emigrated to Canada. His heroics in 1917 saw him posthumously awarded the VC.
“In 2017 North Lanarkshire Council commissioned stones for all the VC winners and there was a presentation at Cambusnethan Old Parish Church. I met Derek Milne there, a descendant of Private William Milne. I was thinking about that the other night and I managed to get hold of someone who had a phone number for him and he was delighted to come along today with his sister.”
The short ceremony was also attended by former and current members of the British Army, representatives from the British Legion, and the current head teacher of Newmains Primary; the soldier’s former school. After laying the wreath there was a visit to the school which is still situated in the same building that a young William Milne attended.
Head teacher Scott Smith said: “We’ve put an exhibition together of photos of the school from the olden days and a wee spread of Scottish fare, to give them a chance to walk in the footsteps that William Milne would have.
“I didn’t know his story at all, we did a bit of research and saw the recent article [in the Wishaw Press] and showed it to our senior children. It’s something we are going to use going forward as part of World War topics around November.”
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