Four tributes

Stornoway Gazette, 29 December 1939
The village of Brue has already suffered two losses at sea, Angus Ian Paterson, 3 Brue, was lost in November in the "Northern Rover", and Alexander Matheson, 26 Brue, was lost just a month later in the trawler "James Ludford". They were both popular lads in the village and prominent members of the West Side football team, although Matheson had latterly been forced to give up football by a serious illness.

Malcolm Graham, Church Street, Borve also lost his life in the "James Ludford". He was thirty years of age and since joining the RNR in 1937 he served in the Merchant Service. The sinking of the trawler by a mine took place on 16 December 1939, only two or three days after he had joined the crew. He had been married for two years and leaves a young widow and one child. Malcolm was a sturdy, handsome man, much admired for his qualities of character, and for his magnificent physique.

Murdo Nicolson, 3 Marybank, was one of the Lewismen on the "Rawalpindi". No news has been heard of him since that engagement. Aged 36, he was the eldest son of John Nicolson, 39 Lower Bayble, who has three other sons on active service. Murdo had been sailing between London and Australia since 1935, and previously had been a rigger in a Glasgow shipyard. He came home to Lewis in the summer of 1937, married and built a house at Marybank. When he was called up, the house was not quite finished, and he had not slept a night in it.

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