Perspectives On The Front

There were a lot of things about Tom Martin that piqued my curiosity and made me want to dig deeper. It started with his headstone in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, located near the site of the Canadian memorial at Sanctuary Wood, and also in the vicinity of Hill 60. The headstone stands quite isolated, but in the company of beautiful red roses, and bears a very unique and personal inscription. Tom Martin was also an alias that John MacKay used when he enlisted in May, 1915.

By the time the brief story was finished I had learned more about the Outer Hebrides and Stornoway, where I had reached out to people for any insight they could offer, as well as help with translation of the headstone inscription. I had discovered the world of crofting, its importance to the small Scottish community and its history; as well as the MacKay’s in the remote islands of the Outer Hebrides. Ultimately I learned about a boy who left home for the last time at a very young age for the long trip to a very foreign land, and his return ten years later to the battlefields of Europe.

Of course I wasn’t aware of any of this until I took the first step in a journey of discovery that started with his service record.