Lybster man pipes up for granduncle
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A CAITHNESS man fulfilled a 30-year ambition when he travelled to France to play a bagpipe lament by the graveside of a relative killed during World War I.
Retired BT engineer Ernie Budge from Lybster went to a Great War cemetery near Arras along with his wife Susan to pay tribute to his granduncle, Private Charlie Budge, who was killed during the conflict in 1917.
"My grandfather, Pete, joined up with his brother, Charlie, in around 1914, joining the Seaforth Highlanders," Ernie said. "My grandfather went to the Somme where he lost an eye and a leg. His brother went to Arras where he was killed in 1917 aged just 18."
Ernie had said to his wife Susan that he wanted to pay tribute to his fallen relative – a man he had never known but who loomed large in his mind – so they travelled to Nine Elms Military Cemetery close to the towns of Arras and Thélus.
Nearly 700 WWI casualties are commemorated at the cemetery. Of these, almost 150 are unidentified. The great majority of the British graves are from April 1917 when Ernie's granduncle was killed.
"We stayed in Arras which is about the same size as Wick. I played a few tunes on my pipes at the British war memorial there," said Ernie.
The couple did a lightning-quick trip to the area via car and train, staying for a couple of nights in the French town which had to be extensively reconstructed after the Great War.
"The owner of the guest house we stayed at was very helpful and showed us exactly where the cemetery was," Ernie said.
"I'd wanted to do this trip for over 30 years and I thought this was the right time."
Last year's centenary commemorations of the war's end in 1918 reignited Ernie's desire to fulfil his ambition to travel to granduncle Charlie's grave.
"We didn't want to go on a tour bus so the guest-house owner, Gerard, dropped us off at the cemetery and picked us up two hours later. That gave time for me to play a few tunes on the pipes as a tribute to Charlie Budge.
"There are Seaforth Highlanders on either side of him marked as 'unknown' who were probably blown to pieces along with Charlie during the Battle of Arras."
Ernie and Susan were also very pleased to learn that Charlie's grave is being well looked after.
"Gerard told us that schoolchildren in the area are each allocated two or three graves to tend to," Ernie said. "Apart from educating kids about the war, it's a really nice thought that Charlie is been left in good hands."
