Alfred Anderson Cairn - Alyth, Perth & Kinross.
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creg-ny-baa
N 56° 37.033 W 003° 13.417
30V E 486276 N 6274799
Memorial cairn commemorating Alfred Anderson, the last surviving Scottish veteran of World War One, who died in 2005 aged 109 in the Perthshire town of Alyth.
Waymark Code: WM13ZGV
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/19/2021
Views: 1
Alfred Anderson was born on June 25th 1896 in the Scottish city of Dundee. In October 1914 he joined the 1/5 Angus & Dundee battalion of the Black Watch and was shipped off to Flanders. It was here he witnessed the 1914 Christmas Truce.
The following year he became batman to his platoon commander Lieutenant Ian Bruce Gardyne. On night time watch he was wounded by shrapnel from shellfire in the back of the neck and was sent home.
After recovering, he became infantry instructor at a camp in Ripon, Yorkshire and rose to rank Staff Sergeant by the end of the war.
After the war, he was married and became a joiner in his father's joinery business. In World War Two, now too old for service, he served with the local Home Guard.
After his wife died in 1979, he moved to the small Perthshire town of Alyth, and remained there until his death at 109 years of age on November 21st 2005.
A memorial was set up by public subscription, and was unveiled by the Duke & Duchess of Rothesay in October 2006. The memorial is situated on the souther edge of Alyth next to the town's war memorials and takes the form of a five foot tall cairn, set on a stone plinth, and topped by a ball finial. A granite tablet is set into the side with an inscription in black incised lettering which reads as follows:
'ALFRED ANDERSON
25 JUNE 1896 21 NOVEMBER 2005
ALYTH RESIDENT
THE OLDEST MAN IN SCOTLAND WHEN HE DIED
THE LAST SCOTTISH VETERAN OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914
AN UNASSUMING AND GRACIOUS MAN GIVING GENEROUSLY
OF HIS MEMORIES TO THE END. MUCH LOVED AND ADMIRED
BY ALL THOSE WHOSE LIVES HE TOUCHED
UNVEILED ON 1ST OCTOBER 2006 BY
HRH THE DUKE & DUCHESS OF ROTHESAY
ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION'
The cairn can be found on the north-eastern corner of a paved garden area containing the WWI & WWII memorials at Alyth Muir on the corner of Airlie Street and Meigle Road.