Stories of heroism and the heart-breaking loss of local families are being revealed in Kirriemuir walking tours covering the war heritage of the town.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is behind the programme of guided walks at the cemetery on The Hill.
And from next month, military historian Rae Taylor will share the passion which has filled his time since retiring from an NHS career of more than 30 years.
That ended when he stepped down as head of information and performance for NHS Tayside in 2014.
Published works on Perthshire and Angus fallen
Rae began to delve into the stories behind the names on the war memorial of his home village of Meigle.
He published Meigle’s WW1 Dead, telling the story of 16 men commemorated there.
And since then he has also compiled a two-volume work covering more than 1,700 men from the Kirriemuir area who served in WW1.
As well as being Meigle Community Council chairman, Rae is secretary of the Tayside branch of the Western Front Association.
He took the idea of Kirrie cemetery tours to the CWGC.
“Kirriemuir has only 10 CWGC gravestones, but the commission maintains five other private memorials,” said Rae.
And he has found 60 family headstones remembering the fallen of the two World Wars.
“All three branches of the armed forces are represented and the stories of the men are varied and extraordinary,” he added.
“Behind every name is a human story waiting to be discovered.
“The tours provide the perfect opportunity to do that.
“Some involve remarkable bravery, while others result from tragic accidents.
“The exploits of a Kirrie pilot who dropped secret agents behind enemy lines, and a prisoner of war whose death was investigated at the time as a war crime, have been shrouded in secrecy.
“One family tragically lost three sons in the First World War,” he said.
Kirriemuir’s Victoria Cross recipients
And Rae’s narrative will touch on the heroism which brought no fewer than three Victoria Crosses to Kirriemuir.
Private Charles Melvin of the Black Watch received Britain’s highest award for bravery in 1917 and is buried in Kirrie.
The cemetery also contains the grave of Richard Burton of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, honoured with a VC in 1944.
The third VC was posthumously given to Captain Lord Charles Lyell after his bravery leading men of the Scots Guards in North Africa in 1943.
He is laid to rest in the Massicault war cemetery in Tunis.
All three are commemorated in a memorial slab in Kirriemuir’s Cumberland Close.
When are the tours taking place?
There will be five guided tours starting next month.
They last around an hour and a half and are being held on:
- Sunday September 4 (2pm)
- Thursday September 8 (2pm)
- Sunday September 11 (2pm)
- Thursday September 15 (2pm)
- Sunday October 2 (10am)
Places on the free tours can be booked at www.cwgc.org/tours
The role of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The CWGC honours and cares for the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars.
It is funded by six member governments.
Its work work began more than 25 years ago with building, and now maintaining, cemeteries at 23,000 locations around the world.
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