John MacMillan

The 1/9th Battalion Royal Scots were part of 183rd Brigade, 61st (South Midland) Division when John fell leading his men at the actions at the Somme crossings, 24th - 25th March 1918. This was part of the 1st Battles of the Somme, 21st March - 5th April 1918 : After transferring very large forces from the now-collapsed Eastern Front, the German Army commits to a series of large-scale offensives. The first, Operation Michael, strikes the British Fifth and Third Armies. A deep advance is made and inflicts large losses, although the second phase, Operation Mars, at Arras on the 28th March, is soon held. In the crisis, the Allies decide at Doullens to appoint French General Foch as co-ordinator, and soon enough, as Generalissimo. Before enough French and British reserves are finally assembled to hold the German advance before it captures the critical railway junctions at Amiens. Pargny British Cemetery was made after the Armistice, by concentrations from the surrounding battlefields. The majority of the burials in this cemetery are those of Officers and men of the 61st (South Midland) and 8th Divisions, whose resistance at the Somme crossings on the 24th March 1918, materially helped to delay the German advance. John was previously Acting Corporal (1613) Lanarkshire Yeomanry and Acting Corporal (3075) Lothian and Border Horse. John's body was exhumed on the 20/06/1921 (see Special Exhumation Report x 3). John's inclusion on the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery states he was Killed in Action on the 29/03/1918 as does the Newspaper of the time (see photos). However his Medal Index Card, his Grave and the CWGC state he died on the 24/03/1918 (see photos). Also see Newspaper clipping for a letter sent to his mother from his Chaplain. He is listed as McMILLAN on the Coatbridge Memorial. John was well known in musical circles as a baritone vocalist. See photos for John's Medal Index Card, his Newspaper clipping, a close up of John's Grave, Pargny British Cemetery, his CWGC Grave Registration, his Headstone Report, his name on the Pozieres Memorial List, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his Pension Record, the Lanarkshire Yeomanry and the Royal Scots Cap Badges.