A family have issued a plea to help track down pictures and lost war medals of their Dundee war hero relative ahead of a visit to mark the centenary of his death.
Robert Day, known to his friends as Rodg, embarked on an extensive military career that saw him travel to north-west India, Palestine and the Balkan Peninsula, before later being sent to Western Front as part of the UK’s First World War efforts.
His death during that final campaign, at a military hospital in France after sustaining a gunshot wound to the chest, was first reported on page three of the November 13, 1918, edition of The Courier.
Nick Palmer, Mr Day’s great-nephew, has been working to compile a life story of the war veteran ahead of a family visit to his grave in Busigny, north-east France, to pay respects ahead of the 100th anniversary of his death.
Mr Palmer said: “I would like to appeal to help locate his photos, medals and any other personal effects as no-one in my immediate family knows what happened to them.
“His wife died in 1929 and their only son died in 1972 but did not marry or have children, so I fear that they may have been lost or disposed of. Most of the rest of his family stayed in the south of England, Kent being their origins.”
Mr Day, who was born in Kent in 1886, spent a lengthy spell of active duty on the North West Frontier in India for the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
He moved to Dundee after leaving the army and married Mary Rae in 1913, with the couple living at 143 Nethergate and having their first child just over a year later.
However, he was mobilised at the start of the Great War as a reservist and later served in the Balkans, Palestine, and participated in the capture and defence of Jerusalem.
Mr Day was then transferred to the Western Front in Spring 1918 and joined the final push against the German forces that autumn before being fatally wounded.
The Courier report of Mr Day’s death reads: “Private Rodg. Day died in a military hospital in France on the 5th inst. as the result of a gunshot wound in the chest. He was a reservist, and was mobilised at the outbreak of war.
“He had gone through severe fighting in the Balkans, Egypt and France. Pte. Day served with the Royal West Kent Regiment on the Balkan front, being subsequently transferred to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and was sent to France recently, where he took part in the victorious advance.
“His wife, who resides at 1 Miller’s Wynd, Perth Road Dundee, received the sad news of his death while the joy bells of peace were ringing. Previous to the war he was with Lipton Ltd., at Dundee Naval Base, where he was well known and highly respected.”
