William Macleod, 42 Coll

Stornoway Gazette, 27 June 1941
William Macleod, 42 Coll, died on active service some weeks ago. Some time before the outbreak of war, he underwent two serious operations in the Lewis Hospital, but made a fairly good recovery. His convalescence was of short duration, however, and only prepared him for testing times which lay ahead. For, when war broke out, he did not want to be called up, as one does in the normal course of events, but immediately offered his services and enlisted in the Patrol Section of the Royal Navy. He came through the fiery ordeal of Dunkirk unscathed, out of the very jaws of death, to die 10 months later in less dangerous circumstances.
William was endowed with a maturity of wisdom which is seldom to be expected from one of his years. His transparent integrity and inherent attractiveness of character could not fall to impress one. Neither could his beautiful qualities fail to have their influence felt. Seldom has a youth won the affection of his colleagues as much as he. His passing is a hard and grievous blow and oft times it is hard to realise that we shall see him no more. His presence will be greatly missed in the ship which he served, and the community in which he was nurtured will be deeply conscious of a great loss. He was 19 years of age. An elder brother is serving with the Merchant Navy. [J. M.]

No comments:

Post a Comment