Sunday, 1 May 2011

Angus Macdonald, 15 Shader (Point)

The entry for Angus Macdonald on Faces from the Lewis War Memorial elicited this comment:

Angus MacDonald of 15 Shader point was my great grand uncle, his nephew M MacDonald is 83 with a memory longer than an elephant's! The SS Bronwen was sunk on the 24 Sep 1916 by the German submarine U-35 (Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière), 25 miles NxE of .Dragonera Island [off Mallorca]. The Bronwen was carrying a load of coal from Barry to Marseilles. He was taken POW to POW station Salzerbad, Austria. He developed TB and following his release at the end of the war and was hospitalized in Le Havre where he died 27 Nov 1918.
The correspondent sent me a handful of pictures, which I would like to share in this post.
A letter from Angus, which he sent from the POW camp in the summer of 1918 was also sent to me, and a photograph will hopefully follow later. It is a great sadness to his family that Angus died whilst on his way home from the POW camp.

Gravestone in the Ste Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France. The Gaelic inscription at the bottom is confusing, I copy: 

Mac deleas gradhach brathair urramach eiridh do vhrathair a rio

John XI 23 [Jesus said to her: your brother will rise again].
Memorial to those lost in hospital ships, mined during the Great War, set amidst the war graves in the Ste Marie Cemetery, Le Havre

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