John, we know you were born at Croy, Inverness, but we do not know anything more about your childhood, or what tragedy brought about you being made a ward of court, except that you had worked as a farm servant at Wester Lovat, a farm alongside the site of the former Lovat Castle by the River Beauly. That would have been when Robert Smith was the farmer there. We read that you enlisted in Inverness into the North Scottish RGA, and were given Service No 6175. We do not know when you transferred to 248 Siege Battery, but your service No 121860 would give us some indication. Your battery was equipped with 6 inch howitzers and formed part of 17 Brigade RGA in the 3rd Army. The Highland Times, in reporting your death in action wrote that you were an ideal soldier, having a firm grasp of the work you had to do, and were greatly valued by your officers. You lost your life on the first day of the Battle of Polygon Wood, near the Menin Road, having been in the front line for a year. John, we admire you for the brave soldier you undoubtedly were, and sympathise with those who mourned your loss. Terry and Harry.

Henry Harrison