Two Ness lads

Stornoway Gazette, 10 July 1942
The grim reality of war was harshly brought home to two families in Ness when on Tuesday, 16 June, word was officially received from the Admiralty that John Macdonald, elder son of the late Donald Macdonald and Mrs Macdonald, 1 Upper Adabrock and Angus Macdonald, younger son of Mr and Mrs Angus Macdonald, 3 Lionel, had been taken from among us in the prime of their youth. These two lads were serving in foreign waters. Appropriate words refuse to form when we endeavour to express our sympathy for the grief-stricken families, and the sorrow and depression felt by their many friends from far and near. Is it true that we shall enver again laughingly joke with Iain Lochan, that we shall no longer listen to his wit and hear his hearty laugh? John was only 27 years of age, and before joining the Royal Naval Reserve at the commencement of this mighty struggle, he had been working in one of the shipbuilding yards in Glasgow. He was shrewd and diligent as can be seen from the improvement in his croft and home. John was most obliging to his neighbours, and his helping hand will be missed at all seasons of the year. He was most dutiful and considerate to his widowed mother and only sister, and to them, and his brother at Stornoway, our heartfelt sympathy is extended in their irreparable loss.