Kirriemuir has paid silent tribute to the actions of a “canny lad” whose First World War heroism earned the son of Angus the nation’s greatest gallantry award.
In a poignant ceremony at the graveyard on Kirrie Hill, Angus Black Watch Association members gathered to honour the memory of Charles Melvin, a century on from his actions in the trenches of Istabulat, Iraq which won the young factory worker the Victoria Cross.
Melvin is one of three VC holders from the Angus town, and the remembrance ceremony followed the Old Parish Kirk rededication of the branch standard of the historic regiment to which he brought such honour.
Born in the hamlet of Craig, near Montrose, the farm worker’s son enlisted at the age of 20, and it was his bravery in April 1917 which saw him recognised with the famous bravery medal, after he took on the enemy at close quarters and carried injured comrades to safety during an intense day of battle.
The unassuming soldier was laid to rest in a pauper’s grave until, on the death of his wife, a Commonwealth war grave bearing the regimental badge of the Black Watch was erected at Kirrie cemetery, where a minute’s silence was held before a piper’s lament sounded out in the autumn Angus air.
Alongside BWA representatives and local dignitaries was former paratrooper Dave Melvin, from Dundee, a great-nephew of the solider.
Angus Provost and Black Watch Association branch chairman, Major Ronnie Proctor said: “The story of Chay Melvin is one of which the Black Watch is justifiably proud, and it is fitting that we should remember his bravery 100 years on at his Kirriemuir resting place.
“He was a quiet, canny lad, but his mother is quoted as saying that when he got his dander up he had a bit of temper, and perhaps that is what saw him through that day in 1917.”
Major Provost added: “Service before self is what the Black Watch Association is about, and there is no better illustration of that than the actions of Charles Melvin at Istabulat.
“Still today we are there to look after each other and keep the Black Watch in touch with the communities of this area that it has been part of over the centuries.”
