ADDITIONAL FAMILY INFORMATION - From the 1891 Census - Address - 11 Balquahatson Rows, Slammanan - Joseph Barr aged 37, Janet Barr aged 33, Margaret Barr aged 15, Janet Barr aged 11, Jane Barr aged 10, Helen Barr aged 8, Elizabeth Barr aged 6, William Barr aged 3, Joseph Barr aged 1. The Battalion arrived in Boulogne on the 14/08/1914 and were part of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division. Joseph arrived on the 31/08/1914. Joseph's Battalion was in action in France within a week of arriving at Boulogne on the Lake Michigan. A Highland Light Infantry Officer wrote in a post war book that the whole ship's Company sang 'By the Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond' as the ship left the Quay at Southampton. They fought in the Battles of 1st Marne and Aisne in the successful defence of Paris. The Germans were at one point within 25 miles of the city. The French 6th Army on 2nd Highland Light Infantry's left was reinforced by French Reservists who were taken to the Battlefield by Paris taxis, and Paris was saved. It is generally described in France as 'Le Miracle de la Marne'. The Germans were then pushed back to Chemin de Dames on the north bank of the Aisne where they dug in, the beginning of the trench warfare that was to last for four years. The 2nd Highland Light Infantry then moved to the Ypres area to join the effort to halt the German 'race for the sea'. They had hoped to blockade the Channel ports and to bring about a quick victory by not allowing the British to disembark more troops. Joseph Barr lost his life at Becelaere, near Ypres, Belgium, on the 7th November 1914. Joseph was one of 16 men killed in a hand-to-hand action, when the Germans invaded "B" Company's trench at 4.30 am. The only 2nd Highland Light Infantry Casualties that day were from "B" Company trench. After the action, in which the Germans lost eighty men, the Highland Light Infantry Commanding Officer, for strategic reasons, decided to abandon the trench to the remaining Germans, who subsequently buried eight of the Highland Light Infantry's dead, Joseph Barr included, together with their own dead in the German cemetery at In de Ster (The Star Inn). The German dead were cleared from In de Ster in the early years after the Armistice. They handed over the 2nd Highland Light Infantry dead to the British at that time, and they are buried now in Oosttaverne Cemetery. Lieutenant Walter Lorrain Brodie received the V.C. for his part in the action of the 7th November 1914, when he 'mounted a machine gun on the trench parapet and killed a large number of Germans'. His citation reads - "For conspicuous gallantry near Becelaere on the 11th November, in clearing the enemy out of a portion of our trenches which they had succeeded in occupying. Heading the charge, he bayonetted several of the enemy, and thereby relieved a dangerous situation. As a result of Lieutenant Brodie's promptitude, 80 of the enemy were killed, and 51 taken prisoners". Lieutenant Brodie personally killed nine men in the attack. In a letter to his parents the following day he described the event as "a bit of a scrape". He received the Victoria Cross from King George V in person at Windsor Castle on the 17th July 1915. He was killed in action near Behagnies, France, on the 23rd August 1918. He is buried in Bienvillers Military Cemetery. It is likely that Joseph was a Pioneer in the "B" Company trench on the 7th November 1914. Pioneers were used as specialists in trench making and maintenance. In 1914 there were ten Pioneers in every battalion, skilled tradesmen or labourers. They were also fully trained infantrymen. The men lost in "B" company trench were the Battalions only fatalities that day. The 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry had only 30 of its original men by the end of November 1914, a story typical of the British Expeditionary Force infantry battalions which had left Britain less than four months earlier. The Germans never did reach the Channel ports. SEE PHOTOS X 12 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY FROM OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1914. Joseph was reburied in Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery (see photo). Joseph is also remembered on the East United Free Church and Maxwell Parish Churches Rolls of Honour and on the Glenboig War Memorial (see photos). THIS IS HOW ALISON BARR, THE GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF PRIVATE JOSEPH BARR, VISUALISES THE EVENTS AND EMOTIONS AT THE TIME HE LEFT, IN FRANCE, AND HIS SUBSEQUENT DEATH : Thinned, scratched, dulled, battered, this dog tag has found its way back from an Ypres trench to a Coatbridge Street J BARR PTE 7134 HLI REG E. This and a beautiful sweetheart brooch are all that she has now. Two silver circles, one of love, one of death. Some months before she had held a Celtic pin brooch in her hand. It was from a Glasgow jeweller, an expensive parting gift, a love token. She knows that he will not return. She rushes to the front door in her slippers, tears falling, shaking with shock, cold, empty like the street, holding only the ghost of his back. He couldn't bear a fuss, not even a goodbye cuddle or kiss, typical Scot, didn't tell her, as an ex regular and reservist he packed his kitbag, put on his Glengarry, angled in defiance, and walked out of the door. He knows that he will not return to this house, his wife, his weans. He had told his sister, "The only way I'll be returning is in a corned beef tin". He does not look back. 2nd HLI men march to Motherwell railway station. Within a week of arriving in France Joseph had fought in the battle of Marne alongside the French, who famously hired the Paris taxis to bring a reserve battalion to the fight. Paris was saved. The Germans were pushed to positions north of the river Aisne, where they dug in, establishing the lines for four years of trench warfare. 2nd HLI dug in to defend the strategic town of Ypres. ËœWe have been having a very hard time of it lately". After being shelled all day, on 7th November, the enemy attacked at 4 a.m. Jimmy from Kilmarnock shouted the alarm. The enemy were upon them. The HLI couldn't see well in the mist, "only had time to fire a few rounds". Figures jerked and loomed like shadow puppets. The Germans were in their trench, where only moments ago the watch had passed round smokes and hot tea. "The trench was in a shambles". This was it then, hand to hand, eye to eye, man to man, shouting, bayonets, knives, kill or be killed, mud, tearing, slipping in filth, screaming, stabbing, everything too close; stubble on faces, a blue enamel mug lying on its side, veins throbbing at temples, smell of unfamiliar sweat, buttons and badges glinting, larger than life blades, prayers to mothers and loved ones, final gasps. Lieutenant C.L. Cornish HLI, letter dated 10 November, killed on 11 November, 1914. "Three days ago when we were in the trenches the Germans attacked one of our Companies at four in the morning. They charged suddenly out of thick mist, and our men had only time to fire a few rounds before they were in the trench. A hand-to-hand fight ensued. The trench was a perfect shambles. I was in a trench to the left of all this and could hear a fearful din going on". The battle moved on. Joseph and seven of his comrades were buried by the Germans, alongside the German dead, in their cemetery at In de Ster, named after an Inn used by German troops, The Star Inn. In April 1915 two officers, one British, one German, met in No Man's Land, they quietly exchanged a handful of dog tags. Wives and sweethearts will now know that their men are dead, after months of being listed as "missing in action". She fingers the dog tag in her hands, reads the letter. "Killed in action, France and Flanders, 7th November 1914". Why couldn't he have given her a last cuddle and kiss? Instead of rushing away without saying goodbye. She knows why. None of it matters now anyway. He departed, she got a brooch. He 'returned', she got a dog tag. She wraps them up in her best lace hankie and carefully places them in the bottom corner of the drawer. She goes downstairs to tells the weans, "Yer Daddy's no comin' hame. He was hurt in the war fightin' the Germans. He did it for us and he was very brave. We'll just be on our own frae noo on. He's no' comin' back ever". Esther ties her apron strings and peels the tatties ready for dinner. FROM ALISON : "This is the story of my great-granda Barr. It is as factual as historical and family accounts allow". My thanks to Joseph's grandson Joe Barr and his great-granddaughter Alison Barr for this information. Grave photo donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. See photos for Joseph's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clipping, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his name on the Maxwell Church Roll of Honour, Glenboig War Memorial, Joseph's name on the Glenboig War Memorial, photos of Joseph x 2, his listing on the De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, Joseph's Reburial Form, another photo of Joseph's Grave, Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery, the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge, Joseph's Pension Records x 3, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2 and his Headstone Report. Finally, see photos for the 2nd Division book 1st - 10th November 1914 x 17, the 2nd Division Order of Battle x 12 and a Coatbridge Express Newspaper clipping 27/01/1915 listing Joseph on the East United Free Church Roll of Honour as Killed in Action.
