Larbert
S/3593 Private
1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Division
Age: 23
Date of Death: 22.4.15
Buried: Menin Gate Panel 38
Family history: Son of Francis Morrison Grant & Annie Grant, Main Street, Larbert. His brother Private Robert Grant, 1/7 Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders was wounded in the right thigh on 25 April 1915 and was in Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow. Francis landed in France on 3 January 1915 and joined his Battalion.
The action leading to his death
The 22 April 1915 was the day the Germans used Chlorine Gas for the first time on the Western Front. They used the gas against the French lines at Langemark which resulted in a break in the line of some two miles that was filled by British and Canadian troops. www.theypressalient.com/post/gas-and-chemical-warfare
The 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, were in the line north of Vierstraat.
(Linesman Map showing trench positions north of Vierstraat)
The War Diary for the 22 April entry mentions that the men had reported their eyes being affected by the gas and that tins of water and pieces of cloth had been sent up as a remedy against the gas. The War Diary also reported that one man had been killed, this was Francis.
In a letter dated 24 April to his mother, featured in the Falkirk Herald, Second Lieutenant Thom, his Platoon officer, writes that Francis had been ‘killed instantaneously by a rifle bullet wound through the brain at 2.30am on 23 April.’ He adds that he was buried behind the trench as it was to dangerous to carry him the three miles to the nearest churchyard.
Medals Awarded
1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
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