AN appeal is being made for information to help establish if four men who died in World Wars I and II came from Stonehouse, so that they can be properly commemorated.

Members of the recently-established war memorial sub-committee, comprising members of the village’s community council and heritage group, initially identified 37 ‘forgotten’ servicemen (31 killed in World War I and six in World War II) whose names are not included on the war memorial in Manse Road cemetery. They hope to secure funding for a new memorial and have almost completed their research but still need to confirm whether the following soldiers have a definite Stonehouse link.

They are: Private Hugh Paterson, of the New Zealand Medical Corps, who was killed in Turkey in 1915, aged 20; Sergeant John Reid, of the Argyle and Southern Highlanders, who drowned at sea in 1918; Flight Sergeant John George L. Hughes, of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserves (26 Squadron), a pilot who was killed in an air raid on Rotterdam, aged 22; and Gunner James McLean of the Royal Artillery 7th Coastal Regiment, who died in 1944, aged 29. The ship he was travelling on was accidentally sunk by American troops off the coast of China.

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