MOOSE JAW — A Scottish community has honoured a Moose Jaw soldier who fought during the First World War and received the Victoria Cross — the highest military medal — posthumously for his efforts during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
The Village of Cambusnethan, a suburb of the town of Wishaw in the province of North Lanarkshire, held a ceremony on June 1 to honour Pte. William Johnstone Milne.
Biographical details
Milne — born in the village on Dec. 21, 1892 — emigrated to Moose Jaw in 1910 and worked on a farm near Mortlach. He later enlisted in Moose Jaw on Sept. 12, 1915, and was assigned to the 46th Battalion before being transferred to the depleted 16th Battalion.
He fought at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917, where he single-handedly knocked out two heavily defended machine-gun posts. However, he was killed later that day and buried in an unmarked common grave.
News of his death was published in the Wishaw Press on June 15, 1917, with the headline, “Our first VC, Posthumous honour, Wishaw-Canadian’s Wonderful bravery.” The article noted that a soldier told Milne’s parents that he was a “good soldier” who showed “splendid devotion to duty.”
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission could not locate Milne’s body afterward, so his name was commemorated on the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France. He is also honoured on the Cambusnethan Landward War Memorial, the Coltness Memorial Church Plaque, has a street named after him and has a special paving stone next to the village memorial arch.
Milne was the first man from the Wishaw area to receive the Victoria Cross.
Family connection
More than a century later, Milne’s cousins, Nancy Watford and Mary Watford Armes, travelled to Scotland from the United States — their mother was Canadian — where they laid wreaths at the Newmains War Memorial.
“We always went to Canada to see family and this is like connecting with family. It’s such a privilege to do this … ,” Armes told Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper. “We were just going to stop by and lay a wreath, but it’s fantastic with the representatives from the Legion and the school (and a representative for Mary Duncan, the honorary consul for Canada to Scotland).
“I think it’s great the attention that’s been given.”
The sisters’ interest in Milne first arose after seeing an old black and white photo of their mother’s uncle, W.S. Smith, sitting on a bench in Moose Jaw with Milne before he enlisted.
“We really feel it was an important thing to do, to recognize him …,” said Watford. “They were the same age and we thought there must be a big connection between them, so we started to research and found out he and my grandma were cousins, and their grandmothers were sisters from Aberdeenshire.”
Alistair Allan, with the Lanarkshire Historical Society, also attended the event. He has written 16 books about the First World War — Milne appears in “A Village that Went to War” — and knows the soldier’s story well.
Milne was born 200 yards from where Allan lives and attended Newmains Primary School and became an apprentice moulder at the Coltness Iron Works, the historian explained. However, he later became a farm labourer at Herdhill Farm, then emigrated to Canada and enlisted in the army.
Past and present recognition
In 2017 the North Lanarkshire Council commissioned stones for all the area VC winners, while there was a presentation at Cambusnethan Old Parish Church that honoured Milne, said Allan.
“I met Derek Milne there, a descendant of Pte. William Milne. I was thinking about that the other night and I managed to get hold of someone who had a phone number for him and he was delighted to come along today with his sister,” the historian added.
In attendance at the ceremony were members of the British Army, British Legion, and the head teacher of Newmains Primary. Attendees toured the school after the wreaths were laid.
Larry Roeder, Watford’s husband and a former U.S. diplomat — he contacted the Moose Jaw Express about the ceremony — told the Daily Record that everyone should continue to remember those men who died during war.
“If we expect future generations to serve in battle, we must honour those who defended democracy in the past, especially now when that concept is under such serious threat in places like Ukraine,” he added. “ … such events are a necessary societal service.”
