Peter is listed as arriving in France on the 16/06/1918 (Medal Index Card) after he was discharged on the 05/04/1918 for the purpose of being given a Commission. He enlisted as a Gunner in the Royal Engineers (334882). PETER FELL AFTER HOSTILITIES CEASED WHEN HE WAS KILLED BY AN EXPLODING ENEMY MINE (see first 3 Newspaper clippings). 7 COMRADES DIED WITH HIM (see War Diary 4). He became a 2nd Lieutenant on the 05/04/1918. The 180th Tunnelling Company did much work in Albert during the great advance to victory, repairing all kinds of works and removing unexploded charges and mines. They did the same in Epehy in November 1918. SEE PHOTOS x 12 FOR THE 180th TUNNELLING COMPANY WAR DIARY FROM OCTOBER 1918 - MAY 1919. The War Diary 15/11/1915 at EPEHY states : "The following casualties in No. 3 section occurred this day by Enemy delay action mine explosions :- KILLED - 2/Lieut. P. BARCLAY R.E., 79035 Sergt A. SIMS. M.M., 175953 L/Cpl J. PRICE, 175542 Sapr H. MELLISH, 151327 Sapr E.W. WILBER M.M., 132070 Sapr A. WILSON, 420568 Pte A. HANCOCK, 57th Labour Coy. DIED OF WOUNDS - 478509 Pte J. KIRK, 175th Labour Coy. WOUNDED and admitted to Hospital - 139012 Sapr E. DACK, 82723 Sapr W. THORNTON". These brave men fell or received their injuries 4 days after the Armistice. Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers (underground warfare) : The war on the Western Front bogged down into siege conditions by November 1914. Both sides faced the need to break through the enemy's defensive entrenched positions. It was not long before an ancient art was remembered and used most effectively: mining under the enemy lines, placing explosives and blowing them up. In some areas, both sides mined and counter-mined intensively. For the infantry above ground, the wait for underground explosions was nerve-wracking indeed; for the men underground, hard toil often came accompanied by sudden death. Grave photo donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. Peter was originally buried with 6 of his comrades in St. Emile British Cemetery before Templeaux-le-Guerard British Cemetery. Peter is also remembered on the Gartsherrie Church, Gartsherrie Works, in the St. Augustine's Parish (book) and Coatbridge Technical Colleges Rolls of Honour and at the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery (see photos). See photos for Peter's Medal Index Card, his Service Record x 5, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his Reburial Form x 2, Templeux-le-Guerard British Cemetery and the Royal Engineers Cap Badge. Peter's Grave inscription "BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH AND I WILL GIVE THEE A CROWN OF LIFE". Finally, another photo of the plaque remembering Peter in the Gartsherrie Bowling Club, Coatbridge kindly donated by my friend Davie Johnstone, Newspaper clippings x 3 (Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser x 1, Coatbridge Leader x 1 and Coatbridge Express x 1), another grave photo kindly donated by my friend in France, Thierry Dericbourg and 17 more Newspaper clippings regarding Peter's father and his sisters Margaret and Isabel's marriages (Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser x 3, Coatbridge Leader x 6, Coatbridge Express x 5, Bellshill Speaker x 1, Sunday Post x 1 and the Hamilton Advertiser x 1).
