DAVID NAIRN, who left his Angus home to fight for his country, was just 23 when he was killed in action in France 88 years ago.

The Royal Field Artillery gunner’s family, from Kirkbuddo, near Forfar, endured a five-year wait to learn that his body could not be found.

A cross in the battlefields was discovered, bearing his name and giving hope that it marked his grave, but it had been erected simply as a memorial.

His name is among tens of thousands at Tyne Cot Memorial to the missing of the first world war, in Belgium.

Gunner Nairn’s brother John, a ploughman who swapped the fields of home for those of Belgium and France with the Royal Garrison Artillery, survived.

But others in the scattered community they came from did not, including two sons of the schoolmaster at Kirkbuddo—Corporal David Kinnear (27), of The Royal Scots, and Second Lieutenant Alexander Kinnear (22), of The Cameron Highlanders.

Their stories, and the price paid in war by the parishes of Kirkbuddo, Inverarity and Kinnettles, have been detailed in a book launched on Saturday.

It was unveiled by Kinnettles and District Heritage Group at Inverarity Community Hall and marked the culmination of two years of often harrowing work by retired English teacher Elma Reid to create a war record for the area.

Statistics are upsetting enough—of the 112 men from Inverarity who served during the first world war 24 were killed, and the 58 from Kinnettles who marched off to war lost 10 of their number.

“But it’s not just about figures—I learned a great deal about the whole horror of war while working on this,” Mrs Reid explained.

“It has given me a clearer picture of what war is about, even though I taught war poetry for 30 years.”

The book, Heroes of Strathkerbet, begins with the 1914-1918 war and features material submitted by people who live in the community and still have connections with it. Letters from the front, photographs of soldiers who went off to war, and rolls of honour are included.

It also highlights a Dead Man’s Penny, an inscribed disc given to parents or relatives of each soldier who died during the war.

It was the war to end all wars, but the community found itself sending its young men off to fight again, from 1939-1945, which is recounted in the book.

Not forgotten is the part played in the Falklands war of 1982 by Chief Petty Officer George (Scott) Elrick, of Gateside.

He had been working on an infra-red viewing system for helicopters and the equipment was deemed so vital he was flown out to the task force to help fit and maintain it. This meant being parachuted into the sea—something he had not done before—and picked up by Royal Navy vessels.

Owing to a lack of personnel able to operate it, he volunteered for dangerous airborne missions with the elite SAS and SBS.

The book was launched by Charlie Brown, chairman of Forfar branch of the Royal British Legion Scotland, who has two uncles from the second world war featured in it. He said it was a magnificent record which he hoped would keep alive the need for remembrance, especially among the young.