The 409th Field Company (1st Lowland Field Company) were part of the 1st Division. James arrived in France on the 16/12/1914. James was struck by a shell as he carried out work in a critical position. At this time the Division were involved in the Battle of the Sambre, 4th November 1918. This was part of the Final Advance in Picardy, 17th October - 11th November 1918 : The hardest-fought of the final offensive actions. First, Third and Fourth Armies exploited their success in breaking the Hindenburg Line by pushing on across the Rivers Selle and Sambre, recapturing Valenciennes and finally in liberating Mons, where it had all begun for the British Expeditionary Force more than four years before. James was Killed in Action exactly 1 week before the Armistice. He had been in France for 4 years. He is buried alongside 10 of his Royal Engineers comrades who fell on the same day including fellow Coatbridge man Sapper MacDougall. James' grave photo kindly donated by Mick McCann at the British War Graves website who supply photos FREE OF CHARGE
here. See Newspaper clipping for letter to James' parents from his Chaplain. James is also remembered on the Gartsherrie Church and Stewarts and Lloyds Rolls of Honour and at the Family Plot in Old Monkland Cemetery x 2 (see photos). See photos for James' Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his Headstone Report x 2, his Pension Records x 2 and the Royal Engineers Cap Badge. Le Rejet-de-Beaulieu Communal Cemetery. James' grave inscription reads "THOUGH YEARS ROLL ON YET MEMORY BRINGS OUR THOUGHTS AGAIN TO THEE."
