William Rowe began his day as a council roadman but ended it as a feted hero.
He lived in a little tollhouse one mile east of Blackford and his job was to maintain roads between the village and Auchterarder.
That May morning in 1918 he was working between Loaninghead and the level crossing above Gleneagles station when something stirred in the broom bushes clothing the knowes of Millhill farm.
Mr Rowe thought it was a rabbit but as he continued to observe, he caught glimpse of a form in a naval uniform crawling through the furze.
For the next few hours he kept watch on the spot and was eventually rewarded by the sight of three young men in naval uniforms.
The roadman knew British sailors were fully engaged in the war and concluded the men were Germans who had escaped from Glendevon prisoner of war camp.
Without a sign of haste which might have betrayed his intentions, Mr Rowe worked his way to the gatekeeper’s box at the level crossing over the Crieff railway and asked the old man there to telephone Gleneagles station to ask porters to come up and to alert police at Auchterarder and Blackford.
Soon porter Charlie Mailer and a younger man had joined Mr Rowe and they made their way to where the Germans were hiding. The young men were taken by complete surprise and when Mr Rowe demanded they raise their hands, they complied immediately.
They were forced to abandon their meal of bacon and bread and were marched towards the public road.
On the way, one of the Germans said to Mr Rowe in fluent English: “You bad devil. You spoil our holiday.”
The sailors had clearly planned their escape well because they had a vast quantity of bacon and bread in their possession. On reaching the highway, the party was met by Sergeant Heggie of Perthshire Constabulary at Auchterarder who told them it had been a bit risky to tackle the Germans on their own.
Mr Rowe received a letter of commendation from the chief constable and a gift of £1.
