THE HERO OF BUZANCY - LEADING THE LINE
FRENCH CONNECTION FOR ANGUS MACLEOD MEMORIAL LECTURE
This year’s Angus Macleod Memorial Lecture will be based on the dramatic story
of Angus Macmillan from Lemreway, Lewis (1886-1961) who was named the Hero
of Buzancy by the French because of his bravery at a key battle in this small village in
northern France during the 1st World War in 1918. Following the war, Angus
Macmillan served as a Minister in the Church of Scotland for over 30 years. The
lecture will be given by his nephew and namesake Dr Angus Macmillan, also from
Lemreway, a Clinical Psychologist and a member of ‘The Lochies’ folk group, at
7.30pm on Thursday 8 November at Pairc School, Gravir, South Lochs, Lewis.
Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.
Before the lecture, which will be broadcast worldwide over the internet, there will be
a video featuring the Mayor of Buzancy, Monsieur Jean-Claude Doublet, speaking
in French (with English sub-titles) from the village cemetery beside a memorial
depicting an intertwined thistle and rose and inscribed as follows:
‘Ici fleurira toujours le glorieux chardon d’Écosse parmi les roses de France’
(‘Here will flourish for ever the glorious thistle of Scotland among the roses of
France’)
The event will also include poetry, music, a Gaelic psalm, and a short film about
The Hero, who became the most decorated Lewisman in the 1st World War, being
awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the French Croix de Guerre avec
Palme and Legion d’Honneur Chevalier.
In his lecture, drawing on his professional experience and access to his uncle's
personal war diaries, Dr Angus will be exploring the complex interactions between
religious faith, the concept of heroism in the context of the 1st World War, and the
psychological trauma of death and loss at both a personal and community level, as
illustrated by the Iolaire disaster.
He commented as follows:
‘Apart from giving a brief narrative of Angus’s life, and particularly his heroic
activities in the military, I want also to consider some wider issues, such as the
nature of heroism in the context of the military strategies of the time, and the impact
of the appalling losses in the WW1 campaigns on the community of Lewis, which lost
proportionally more men than any other region of Britain. For Lewis, these losses
included the Iolaire disaster, and I want to look at how that became a literally
‘unspeakable’ event, casting an impenetrable gloom on island life for many years.
Angus left four war diaries, a collection of talks given in the 1930s, and a further
source of information is the book written by his son, Kenneth, titled The Hero of
Buzancy. However, there is much that is not included in these sources, not least the
contradictions implicit in a religious man – who later went on to become a minister –
being caught up in the savagery and carnage of the Western Front. I am interested,
as a psychologist, in trying to understand how he represented his own life in his
writings – the matters he dwelt on and what remained unspoken. He comes across as
a very modest man, with no interest whatsoever in the gaining of medals – it is in fact
very difficult to glean from his diaries how or why he was awarded them, in
becoming the most decorated soldier from Lewis in WW1.
I have subtitled the talk ‘Leading the Line’ to touch on the two central domains in
Angus’s life – firstly, ‘leading the line’ in the military sense, and then in the sense of
‘leading’ and precenting a Gaelic psalm, to reflect the time in his life when he was
happiest, and found peace in his life. I will be reading a poem to reflect these
themes.’
The lecture is organised by Comunn Eachdraidh na Pairc in association with e-Sgoil,
the Islands Book Trust, and Angus Macleod’s family. For further information,
including other venues to which the lecture will be broadcast, please contact John
Randall at john673randall@btinternet.com or Mira Byrne at mbyrne1u@gnes.net
More background on the fighting and memorial at Buzancy is available at
www.scotiana.com/lest-we-forget-buzancy-cemetery-in-france
