Caithness homecoming vision as Angus died in battle
Private Angus Mackay was off to war, serving with the 5th Seaforth Highlanders in the heat and dust of North Africa. Then one day – strangely, inexplicably – there he was, back in his native Caithness, making his way towards the front door of the family home at Golsary, Rumster.
He never made it to the threshold. In fact he wasn't there at all, in the physical sense.
His parents, Angus senior and Elizabeth, didn't realise it until a day or two later, but at the same time as that vision, or apparition, or homecoming, or whatever it was, 22-year-old Angus was killed in action in the Battle of Wadi Akarit. His last resting place would be a war grave in Tunisia marked by a simple white cross.
Roddy Mackay never knew his uncle Angus but he was always intrigued by the tale of that mysterious and poignant final journey.
“Angus was off in the war," Roddy said. "One of the parents, or both, looked out of the window – you can imagine it would be a little window because it was like a but-and-ben shepherd’s cottage. And they saw their son coming towards the house.
“Now whether that was up the road or across a park, I don’t know. But when they went to the door to greet him, there was no sign of him.
“Either the next day or a couple of days later, they got confirmation that he was killed at the time that they thought they saw him.
“This story was always handed down to us from our parents, and I was fascinated by that. Also I’ve got a Territorial Army background myself and I was always interested to find out more.”
Over the past year or so, Roddy (53) has been piecing together the details of Angus's military career and is keen to share the story ahead of what would have been his uncle's 100th birthday next month.
He feels a particular affinity with Angus, not least because as Cpl Roddy Mackay he has 31 years' experience in the Army Reserve (previously known as the Territorial Army). In 2006 and 2007 Roddy was deployed to Iraq as part of a 12-strong group from Caithness. He works as a Wick-based paramedic and his house at Oldwick is named Golsary in recognition of the place of his forebears.
A friend with an interest in military history advised Roddy on the correct departments to approach for medal and service records, and a picture slowly began to emerge.
Angus was born on December 13, 1920, part of a large rural family, and became a farm worker. He enlisted in the Territorial Army with the Seaforth Highlanders in April 1939, five months before the start of World War II.
The 5th Seaforths were one of nine battalions that made up the 51st Highland Division and fought in the Battle of Wadi Akarit during the Tunisia campaign, as Allied forces removed Germans and Italians from key positions.
Angus died on the first day of the battle – April 6, 1943 – and was buried in Tunisia's Sfax war cemetery. Seaforth losses in the battle were five officers and 26 or 27 other ranks killed, with many wounded.
Roddy was able to establish that three medals – the 1939-45 Star, the Africa Star with 8th Army Clasp and the War Medal 1939/45 – had been issued in 1950 to Angus's next of kin. From the Highlanders’ Museum at Fort George he acquired a detailed timeline of the Seaforths' involvement in Wadi Akarit.
"There’s no mention of him in that battle," Roddy explained. "It’s only the officers that got mentioned. But at least I got the timeline for the specific day that he was killed, so during that timeline he would have met his fate.”
A photo, probably taken soon after Angus joined up, shows him looking young and fresh-faced, proud to be in uniform and with a quietly determined expression as he sits facing the camera with arms folded.
That’s on my bucket list, to go out there and visit his grave on behalf of the family.
Roddy finds himself wishing he had pressed his late father, Andrew, and uncle Alastair for more information about Angus.
“We should have asked my dad questions before he passed away in 1997," he said. "My uncle Alastair died about four years ago. You’re always wanting to get information out of them and you always have good intentions, but then Alastair passed away and that’s the end of the line – he was the bairn of the family and he was the last to die."
Undeterred, Roddy embarked on a family research project with help from his daughter Michelle (23). "It wasn’t until I got Angus's war records back that it dawned on me that he would be 100 in December, and I would like to mark the occasion."
His ambition is to go to Tunisia to pay his respects to his uncle.
“That’s on my bucket list, to go out there and visit his grave," Roddy said. "That’s something I want to do, on behalf of the family.
"As far as I know, none of the family have ever visited the grave. We have a photo of it that was taken a number of years ago by someone who knew the family."
Meanwhile, with Remembrance Sunday approaching, with its scaled-down gatherings because of the Covid-19 restrictions, Roddy's thoughts will be turning to his uncle. "If work permits, I will be observing the wreath-laying,” he said.
On December 13, a century after Angus entered the world, Roddy hopes to join with his siblings – either in person or remotely, depending on the guidance at the time – and "raise a glass" to their relative. And again he will be reflecting on that family tale from 1943 about the strange and unexplained sighting at Golsary.
“The original fascination began with this story of him being seen coming home," Roddy said. "I think that’s quite a warm, comforting thing, and hopefully that’s what the parents thought. The way it was related to us, it did happen.”