Erquinghem Lys - Lt Catto

A contingent from the Tyneside Scottish Branch Royal Artillery Association deployed to Lille in order to conduct an act of remembrance at the grave of Lt William Basil Catto who was killed on the 11h September 1916 whist serving with 4th Battalion Tyneside Scottish. 

2.Lt WB Catto
4th Battalion Tyneside Scottish

2nd Lt. Catto was buried in Erquninghem-Lys Extension Cemetery .  

CWGC 2.Lt WB Catto

Second Lieutenant WB Catto
Tyneside Scottish

In 2012, TS Branch RAA, TS ACF Cadets, and members of the Cato family deployed to France on OP DRUM. A ceremony was held to receive a Drum that belonged to 1st Tyneside Scottish (Black Watch) lost on the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940. It is dedicated to 2nd Lt William Basil Catto.  The drum had come into the possession of Yves Holbeque of the Somme  Battlefield Pipe Band. He recognised the historical importance and contacted  the TS Branch RAA. At the ceremony the Drum was handed over to William Basil's great nephew, Lt. Col. John Catto Royal Artillery.

As a result the Drum was returned to Tyneside.

 

 

Tyneside Scottish Branch RAA
OP DRUM Erquinghem Lys 2012

 

Lt. Col John Catto receives the Catto Drum
OP DRUM Erquinghem Lys 2012

Lt.Col Catto hands over the Drum to Northumbria ACFOP DRUM Erquinghem Lys 2012

 

OP DRUM Erquninghem Lys 2012

 The Tyneside Scottish Royal Artillery Association remembered Lt Catto in a ceremony conducted with locals from Erquinghem Lys.

 

Tyneside Scottish Branch RAA 
2.Lt Catto Remembrance

Tyneside Scottish Branch RAA 
2.Lt Catto Remembrance

Second Lieutenant WB Catto
Tyneside Scottish

 

 

 

 OP DRUM Erquninghem Lys 2016

CTC Otterburn - Op Drum mememto

Op Drum ACF presentation memento in CTC Otterburn

Op Drum ACF presentation memento in CTC Otterburn

Terry the lizard

Op Drum 2 - Handover Ceremony

On the 16th April 2013, the Tyneside Scottish Association paraded at Kingston Park TAC for a ceremony to entrust the Catto drum to 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery Royal Artillery (Volunteers).

The Drum was presented to the Tyneside Scottish during a ceremony at 2/Lt Catto's grave in Erquinghem-Lys on the 4th October 2012. It was handed over to Lt Col John Catto RA by Yves Holbeq and the Somme Battlefield Pipe band. It was entrusted to Northumbria ACF for safe return to Tyneside.

Operation Drum October 2012

 

 

The ceremony to return the Drum to the Tyneside Scottish was organised by 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery Royal Artillery (Volunteers), and brought together serving Battery members, Tyneside Scottish Assocation, and Tyneside Scottish Cadets. Present at the ceremony was the President of the TSA, Colonel Tony Glenton, and the Commanding Officer 101 (Northumbrian) Regiment Royal Artillery (Volunteers). The Tyneside Scottish pipes and drums provided the musical accompaniment.

 

After a journey that had taken 73 years, the Drum returned to Tyneside.

 

Battery Sergeant Major forms the parade up



Battery Sergeant Major on parade

Pipe band play Highland Cathederal

Battery Sergeant Major and TSA on parade

Telling the story of the Drum

Handing over the Dum to the Battery Commander

The drum in its new display cabinet

                 President TSA   CO 101 Regt.         Myself      BC 204 Bty.                    

 

 

Op Drum - Tyne Cot

Tyne Cot as ever very moving. 

CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery

CWGC Tyne Cot Memorial

The CWGC records 3,587 graves and 34,952 names on the memorial. It is always so peaceful and tranquil, in stark contrast to those who fought and died in the shell torn, gas filled, quagmire that was On th Raod Passchendaele.

The silence as we held a small parade at the Cross of sacrifice and at the memorial wall of the Northumberland Fusiliers (remembering 77 Tyneside Scottish commemorated there) was an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made.

There’s a light that shines in Flanders

As a beacon for the brave

From the distant past it wanders

To recall the lives they gave

And it tells each generation

To be wise and never fail

On the road to Passchendaele

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Tyne Cot
Cross of Sacrifice

Observing two minures silence Cross of Sacrifice

Tyne Cot Cemetery



Come with me and I will show you

Why all wars should ever cease

Take a walk among the gravestones

And your tears will cry for peace

For their spirits walk in Flanders

You can hear the grieving wail

For the brave who laid their lives down

On the road to Passchendaele

Tyne Cot Cemetery

Tyneside Scottish Casualties Tyne Cot

Tyne Cot
Laying wreath on the Memorial Wall

Tyne Cot
In memorium of 77 Tyneside Scots

 

Tyne Cot
October 2012

On the Road to Passchendaele

© Alan G Brydon/Major Gavin Stoddart MBE BEM

 

There’s a light that shines in Flanders

As a beacon for the brave

From the distant past it wanders

To recall the lives they gave

And it tells each generation

To be wise and never fail

On the road to Passchendaele
 

On the road to Passchendaele

On the road to Passchendaele

Where the brave will live forever

On the road to Passchendaele

 

Come with me and I will show you

Why all wars should ever cease

Take a walk among the gravestones

And your tears will cry for peace

For their spirits walk in Flanders

You can hear the grieving wail

For the brave who laid their lives down

On the road to Passchendaele

 

On the road to Passchendaele

On the road to Passchendaele

Where the brave will live forever

On the road to Passchendaele

 

 

Op Drum - Sanctuary Wood Trenches

 

Visited Sanctuary Wood trenches with Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment Northumbria ACF.

Great opportunity to get into the trenches and tell the cadets about how the soldiers lived and died in those surroundings. leading the whole contingent through the long tunnel in total darkness was an interesting experience.

Sanctuary Wood
Northumbria ACF in the trenches

Though less than convinced with the group photo on the Colours.....................

Sanctuary Wood Trenches
Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachement ACF



Op Drum - Essex Farm

A visit to Essex Farm Cemetery. The CWGC lists 1,097 casualties, and given it's location adjacent to a dressing station many would have died from wounds.

It was in Essex Farm Cemetery that Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Army Medical Corps wrote the poem ' In Flanders Fields' in May 1915.

CWGC Essex Farm Cemetery

Essex Farm Cemetery
Cross of Sacrifice

Essex Farm Cemetery

There is the too familiar site of the graves of Royal Artillery all together, that died on the same date or near.

The counter battery fire on the Salient could result in an entire gun detachment being killed in a single incident. With in the cemetery 5 Gunners from 261 Siege Battery are buried together, four lost on 10th August 1917, the remaining casualty recorded as 12th August 1917. The Battery was equipped with 6 inch Howitzers and in August 1917 was part of the 65th HAG.

 

Royal Garrison Artillery

261st Siege Battery

 

                                          Gnr GA Moore   Cpl T Teague    Gnr D Marnock     Gnr AW Dodd    Gnr LJ Drury

 

Rank	Initials	Surname	Age	Date of Death	Service No.	Grave Ref
Gunner	G A	MOORE	19	10/08/1917	296660	I. Q. 24.
Corporal	T	TEAGUE	24	10/08/1917	43943	I. Q. 25.
Gunner	D	MARNOCK	19	10/08/1917	344204	I. Q. 26.
Gunner	AW	DODD	31	10/08/1917	147759	I. Q. 27.
Gunner	L J	DRURY		12/08/1917	147756	I. Q. 28.

Op Drum - Menin Gate Ceremony

Recently paraded at the Menin Gate with the Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch. Lead by the Somme Battlefield Pipe Band, who included the Flanders Jocks in their ranks, we marched from the Grote Market upto the Gate. Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment ACF.

The ceremony was as ever very moving. The exhortation  'For the Fallen' by L.Binyon being read by Colonel David Middleton Commandant Northumbria ACF.

Hearing Highland Cathederal echoing around the arches was excellent.

The march off entailed a counter march under the Menin Gate before marching back down the Meninstraat with the skirl of the pipes from Somme Battlefield Pipe Band playing on the road to Paschendaele.

A momentous occasion.

Last Post Association - 6th October 2012

Somme Battlefield Pipe Band lead the narch from the Grote Market

Menin Gate 6th October 2012

Somme Battlefield Pipe Band lead the march off

 

Op Drum - Drum Ceremony

In 2010 the President of the of the Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch, Colonel Tony Glenton, was contacted by  Yves Holbecq, Pipe Major of the Somme Battle Field Pipe Band about a drum he had purchased from a French lady. The drum had been found by her father in law in May 1940 near Fervant in Northern France during the British retreat to Dunkirk. He hid it away in his attic fearing the Germans would not look too kindly on the holding of British Army equipment, and there it remained, forgotten, until 2010.



On the drum, a small plaque was dedicated to 2/Lt William Basil Catto, 4th Battalion Tyneside Scottish. Yves recognised the historical importance of the drum and began a quest to repatriate the drum back to the Tyneside Scottish.

Memorial Plaque on the Drum

The Tyneside Scottish were formed as part of Kitchener’s’ call to arms in 1914. The response for volunteers was so overwhelming that four service battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers formed the Tyneside Scottish Brigade.

 

Decimated on the opening day of the Somme, they were withdrawn to regenerate in the area of Armentieres. It was during this period that 2/Lt William Basil Catto was killed on the 11^th September 1916 whilst commanding a working party. He was buried in the church yard at Erquninghem-Lys the following day. 

2/ Lt William Basil Catto
Tyneside Scottish

2/Lt William Basil Catto

 

The Tyneside Scottish went on to fight at Arras and Paschendaele, going into suspended animation in 1919.

As the war clouds gathered over Europe in 1939, the Territorial Army was doubled in size and units were required to form duplicates. The 9^th Battalion Durham Light Infantry based at Alexander Road, Gateshead, formed the 12^th Battalion Durham Light Infantry and adopted the honour title Tyneside Scottish. Their intelligence officer, Lt. Archie Catto would be a second generation of Catto’s to serve in the TS. The battalion sought to strengthen its Scottish links, and in February 1940 became 1^st Battalion Tyneside Scottish (Black Watch).

 

Officers of the Tyneside Scottish 1940
Lt Archie Catto in glengarry - 2nd row left

They deployed to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force, complete with pipe band. The battalion were tasked with the construction of airfields, their pipe band entertaining the local population. As the panzers rolled across France, the battalion formed a blocking position at Fichieux, near Arras. They held the advancing German armour for vital hours, sustaining heavy casualties, before withdrawing to Dunkirk. Amongst the equipment left behind was the drum dedicated to 2/Lt Catto. The battalion would return to France in 1944, before going into suspended animation.

On the reforming of the Territorial Army in 1947, the honour title was resurrected in the Royal Artillery. Today the title is held by 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery RA (V), former serving members having formed their own branch of the Royal Artillery Association.

In 2010, the Tyneside Scottish Association began their planning for the repatriation of the Catto drum back to Tyneside under the leadership of Major Ian Jones.

An initial meeting was held with Yves Holbecq in Albert during the Northumberland Volunteer Artillery Association’s Somme Battlefield tour in 2011.

 

Meeting with Yves Holbecq Albert 2011

 At this point the history of the drum took an interesting turn of fate. Amongst those on the tour was an officer from 204 (Tyneside Scottish) Battery RA (V) who had served with Major (now Lt. Col) John Catto in Afghanistan. It transpired that a third generation of Cattos had commanded Tyneside Scottish soldiers. 204 Battery RA (V) provide reinforcements to  5^th Regiment Royal Artillery on Op Herrick.

 

The initial part of the drum’s journey back to Tyneside was a ceremonial handover at the grave of 2/Lt Catto at Erquinghem-Lys in France.

 

2 /Lt Catto's Grave
Equinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension Cemetery

 CWGG Erquinghem-Lys Extension Cemetery

On parade were the members of Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch and Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment Northumbria ACF, a fine representation of veterans and youth.

 

Royal Artillery Association Tyneside Scottish Branch on parade

 

Heaton Manor (Tyneside Scottish) Detachment Northumbria ACF on parade

 

 The Somme Battlefield Pipe Band provided the skirl of the pipes, and a Belgian re-enactment group, the Flanders Jocks, formed an honour guard. 

 

Flanders Jocks and Somme Battlefield Pipe Band on parade

 

 Amongst the guests were Catto family members, Lt Col Ian Vere Nichol and Allan Solly of the Royal Artillery Association, as well as representatives from the Royal British Legion. 

On the 6^th October 2012, Yves Holbecq and Madame Peitie, daughter in law of the gentleman who found the drum, handed it to Lt Col. John Catto who accepted it on behalf of the Tyneside Scottish.

Yves Holbecq & Madame Petite handover the drum to
Lt Col. John Catto RA



Lt Col. John Catto hands over the drum to
Tyneside Scottish Cadets
for it's onward journey to Tyneside



Catto Drum at the grave of 2/Lt William Basil Catto

 

 The final part of its journey will be a handover to the Regimental Museum of 101 (Northumbrian) Regiment RA (V).  The location of the museum…..Alexander Road, Gateshead, from where the Tyneside Scottish was resurrected in World War 2 and where the drum probably commenced its journey over 70 years ago.

Flanders Jocks / Lt Col. John Catto and Yves Holbecq


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Somme Battlefield Pipe Band

 

Retrouvez les photos de la cérémonie sur la page photo/video du site

 

 

Flanders Jocks