THE THREE SONS of Vivian and Edie McLaughlin are seen as children in the photograph below. In the centre is the eldest, Archy (full name: Edward Archibald Crofton McLaughlin), on the left is Guy (Hubert Guy Bromilow McLaughlin) and on the right the youngest, Pat (Patrick Vivian McLaughlin).

During the War To End War, the two older boys joined the Seaforth Highlanders. The regiment's cap badge is pictured alongside. Portraits of the brothers in uniform are at the top of the page, Archy on the right, Guy on the left.

In 1915 2nd Lieutenant Archy, aged 20, was killed in action in Flanders. The next year Lieutenant Guy, aged 18, was killed in action in France.

The 1914-15 Star (left) was posthumously awarded to Archy together with two other medals which were also awarded to Guy, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. At the top of this page is the reverse of the Victory Medal with an inscription disgusting in its unintended irony.

Archy's grave is in the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Ypres. Guy was buried in the Warlencourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais.

Both officers are named in a Roll of Honour on the south wall within St Peter's Church at Newnham. The calvary shown on the right was dedicated by the Bishop of Gloucester when it was erected in the church cemetery in memory of the Brightlands old boys slaughtered in the Great War, and of Vivian, who died in 1917.



In 1914 Edie had 25 relatives in the armed services. At war's end three were left alive. Pat was one of them, and, as detailed two pages further on, he became an admiral. World War I had the benefit that it gave earlier promotion to participants in World War II.

© 2006 G. Harry McLaughlin.
Reproduction or transmission, in whole or in part, for other than personal use is prohibited without advance permission from Dr. G. H. McLaughlin.