“On the Road to Passchendaele”

DerekR · Joined: 03 Aug 2009 Posts: 20

L/Cpl Robert Myles Elliot, no.73893, 28th Bn. CEF died near Hooge on 23rd May 1916 and is commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial to the missing.
Robert left Hawick, Scotland for Canada in 1911. He enlisted at Fort Wilton on August 24, 1914.

His parents received a letter from the Chaplain of the 28th Bn.
"It was thought that L/Cpl Elliot's death was caused by heart failure as he passsed away with apparently little conscious suffering after being hit in the leg. His life was a steady influence for good and he was much thought of by his company".

Before the Great War he had played rugby in the same team as my Great-Grandfather. And both boys ended up in Canada and enlisted into the same battalion there. I often wonder if my Great-Grandfather was with Robert when he died.
From the rugby field of Hawick to the killing fields of Flanders - they could never have imagined their fate.

My Grandfather died in Hawick in the 1960's and not 20 yards from his grave is the headstone of the Elliot family. And on their headstone is recorded the death of Robert at Ypres in 1916.
What is galling to me is that, in the name of "health and safety" the Elliot headstone was removed from its plinth to render it "safe". And in doing so, the text of Robert's death was driven into the soft earth of the cemetery rendering it now unreadable. Official vandalism by Scottish Borders Council - "Lest We Forget" indeed.

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There must be a place under the sun where hearts of olden glory grow young ...

The Scottish War Memorials Project