Military

ONE of the best known Helensburgh men to die in action on the front in the first two years of World War One was a 39 year-old with twenty years service.

Lieutenant James Francis Marsland MC, known to his friends as Jim, was serving with ‘C’ Company of the 2nd Battalion (109th Foot) the Leinster Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Royal Canadians).

A PUPIL at the then St Bride’s School in Helensburgh — now Lomond School — became an intelligence officer and played an important part in the battle against German U-boats in the Second World War.

Caroline Chojecki MBE, who died on September 24 2017 aged 96, was born Caroline Elizabeth Rowett on November 11 1920, to John Quiller Rowett and his wife Helen, nee Coats, one of three children.

RESEARCHING an act of generosity produced a fascinating link to Helensburgh’s past.

A YOUNG Cardross man who volunteered twice in World War One lost his life shortly after entering a trench with his platoon.

Second Lieutenant Frank Ritchie was killed in action near the village of Givenchy in Pas-de-Calais on May 25 1915 at the age of 22.

A PHOTO of a military man found in a shop in Inverness in 2012 sparked a search which led to Helensburgh — and to a tragic First World War tale.

Now the same man is featuring again in a new search for information.

A HELENSBURGH man was a World War One flying ace with six aerial victories before his death in action.

Although born in Grangemouth on October 15 1892, Captain David Sidney Hall MC was the son of Helensburgh master grocer and later laundry proprietor William Hall and his wife Annie, nee Fleming, who married at Whiteinch on July 16 1880 and lived at Birkfell, 30 Charlotte Street.