Dear Tom

I am sad to say I never met you , we were born 54 years apart, I never even knew you existed until last year, but since then I have tried to find out everything I could about you.

you were born in 1898 the son of my great grand parents, brother to my grand father, uncle to my mother.

along with thousands of other young men including your two older brothers you enlisted , locally with the 52nd Lowland Division and later joining the Royal Scots Fusiliers you were a Private.

sadly you were killed in action, during the Second Battle of Gaza on the 19th April 1917, you are buried in the Military Cemetery in Gaza.

I am sure your parents were very proud of you, your two older brothers did come home but never spoke of the war , they returned to their work as engineers down the mines where I am sure you would have gone had you come home.

your are maybe gone but you certainly are not forgotten, your name is mentioned on the War Memorial in Dreghorn, Ayrshire and on the Memorial to the War Dead in Edinburgh belonging to the Royal Scots Fusiliers.

I wish I had met you Tom but I never did and I for one am very proud of you and as I write this letter to you my heart is filled with emotion and I will continue to remember you and your comrades who gave their lives during WW1 ,so that we would live.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them”.

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