One of my worst memories is from 1944. Mrs Lumsden lived at 1, Haig Crescent, Bathgate. I remember her coming out of her house with a telegram in her hand, calling in anguish, “My son’s been killed! What am I going to do?” I was only four years old at the time but I recall her exact words. Women who had been waiting for a bus on the other side of the road crowded round her to comfort her.
Simon Lumsden, 1st Battalion Royal Scots was killed at Kohima on June 10th 1944. The vicious fighting at Kohima and Imphal stopped the Japanese advance into India. The Japs were then chased to defeat in Burma. His name is on the World War II memorial plaque which is still in St David’s Church.
In memory of the Indian, British, Gurkha and Burmese killed, the Kohima memorial carries these words:
When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today.
Andrew McLeish. At this time I was living at 16 Haig Crescent, Bathgate.
Bathgate Old Times 