Six Scottish soldiers buried in France 108 years after their deaths

Relatives gathered in France today to witness the burial with full military honours of two Scottish soldiers of World War 1 and four of their unknown comrades. 

Soldiers from 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland bore the soldiers to the graveside (Crown Copyright)

Private (Pte) George Fleming Brock and Pte Percy Todd, both 11th Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, were laid to rest alongside four unknown soldiers 108 years after they were killed in action during the German Spring Offensive in 1918. 

Pte Brock of Dunipace, West Falkirk, was serving an architectural apprenticeship with the Stirling firm of Messrs Bruce & Livingston when he enlisted in June 1916. Only a month after joining the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in France, he was seriously wounded by gunshot and spent several months recuperating in hospital.  

He rejoined the battalion in January 1918. Two months later the Germans launched a huge offensive on the Western Front. On 28 March 1918, Pte Brock’s battalion were holding positions in the area of Tilloy-les-Mofflaines, when they were overwhelmed by intense bombardment. It was on this day that Private Brock lost his life, aged just 19.  

Pte Todd of Radford, Nottinghamshire, was a draper’s manager at Bryan’s Drapery in Isleworth, London, when he enlisted in November 1915. He was living with his wife, Alice, who he had met eight years earlier at work. Pte Todd was also seriously wounded shortly after joining the battalion, on the first day of the Battle of Arras in 1917. After a long recovery, he rejoined his battalion in February 1918, but lost his life less than two months later during the German Spring Offensive, on 5 April 1918.