PERSONAL EFFECTS

In 2015, Perth Academy were contacted by Ewan Martin's great-niece Sheila, who lives in Australia. She told the school that she was delighted that we were embarking on a project to remember Ewan and the other pupils and staff from the school wo had lost their lives in the Great War.

In a wonderful act of kindness she also said that she'd like to donate his personal effects to his old school. They now take pride of place in a display beside the school war memorial.

"A MOONLIGHT MASSACRE"

Peter McEwan (Ewan) Martin, enlisted as a private with the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders), Reg. Nos. 3164 and S/43260. He attained the rank of L/Cpl. and was then promoted to temp. 2nd. Lieut. with effect from 26th Feb. 1917 (Supplement to the London Gazette 5 April 1917) and transferred from a Service Bn. Royal Highlanders to the 11th Bn. Border Regt. 

There is no record of his promotion to Captain, but it is likely that he was promoted “in the field”, as a result of his leadership qualities and heavy casualties.

Extract from “A Moonlight Massacre: The Night Operation on the Passchendaele Ridge, 2nd December 1917” by Michael Stephen LoCicero.

“With two companies in front and two immediately behind, the 11th Border Regiment (CO Major and acting Lieutenant-Colonel T.F. Tweed, MC) waited for Zero-hour along the 300-yard jumping-off tape. Silence was maintained as the battalion ascended the gentle incline toward the summit of Vat Cottage Ridge at 1:55 a.m."

"Confronting them was the anticipated collection of occupied shell hole outposts comprising the Vorfeldzonelinie, the left hand portion of linear trench facing 16th HLI and, beyond the forward edge of the Hauptwiderstandslinie and subsequent green line objective, the ramshackle agglomeration of dugouts, shelters and trenches found, approximately 200 yards south of the battalion’s final red line objective, in Mallet Copse."

"Another short stretch of linear trench, protected by barbed wire and extending from Veldt Farm to Mallet Copse, had also been noted by II Corps intelligence in the days leading up to the attack."

“The enemy remained quiet as the four companies of 11th Border Regiment silently entered no man’s land. Sporadic rifle bursts – immediately followed by a vicious fusillade and cascade of descending magnesium flares – put paid to any hoped for surprise. Both front companies, resolute in the face of fierce machine-gun fire, quickly swept over the Vorfeldzonelinie and, topping the ridge crest, occupied the green line and seized Veldt Farm."

"The two leap-frogging companies, passing through the secured intermediate objective, rushed downhill to enter Mallet Copse at its southern end. Bomb and bayonet made short work of any occupants discovered among the haphazard warren of mined dugouts, corrugated metal-roofed shrapnel shelters and narrow trench sections before the tiny copse was cleared and its north edge gained. Any further advance from there through the muddy northern valley towards the red line was stopped by machine-gun fire originating 200 yards northward from inundated Mallet Wood. Remnants of the leap-frogging companies, their position now rendered untenable under a rain of bullets, fell back to ‘the southern edge of the copse with their left flank refused"

“The 11th Border Regiment, notwithstanding heavy casualties and resultant confusion, had been able to advance 500 yards and occupy dispersal positions of the green line intermediate objective to – 200 yards short of the red line – Mallet Copse. This epic action by the ‘Lonsdale’ Battalion, was, as with other battalions of 25 and 97 Brigades, underlined by many obscure human tragedies now lost to time.”

Although there is no definitive record of how Ewan Martin lost his life, it would have been at some stage of this action.

The War Diary of the 11th Border Regiment states that “Casualties included Capt. P.M. Martin, along with other officers”.

Peter McEwan Martin is also commemorated on the Fowlis Wester Parish War Memorial.