Carluke Victoria Cross Veteran Honoured

More than 100 pupils from the local primary and secondary schools, along with relatives of William, representatives from the Royal British Legion, Lanarkshire Yeomanry, historical societies, local dignitaries and members of the public will come together at 1pm in the Market Square, Carluke, where a special commemorative paving stone will be unveiled to mark the centenary of William Angus, being awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery during WWI.

Although born in Armadale on 28 February 1888, Willie was brought to Carluke as a baby and grew up there, becoming a miner. He was also a good footballer and signed for Glasgow Celtic.

In 1914 he signed up with the Highland Light Infantry along with 28 other volunteers from Carluke, one of whom was James Martin, who was later commissioned and whose life Willie later saved. Willie was posted to France and was transferred to the 1st Battalion, 8th Royal Scots.

Lt Martin led a patrol out in ‘no-man’s land’ on the night of 11 June 1915. His unit was trying to capture a German position in the opposing trenches but were forced to retreat due to heavy machine-gun fire and grenades as they tried to negotiate their way through an area which had been mined.

However they discovered on returning to their trench that Lieutenant James Martin was missing. At dawn on the 12th of June they caught sight of him some 70 yards away 10 feet from the German trenches. He was wounded and unable to move but clearly was still alive.

Their Commanding Officer made the decision that it was far too dangerous to attempt to rescue him and would be “certain death” for anyone who tried.

But Willie volunteered as the officer was also a Carluke man. Reluctantly, the Brigadier agreed to let him try so he set off with 50 feet of rope to try and tie it to his stricken comrade and drag him back to the safety of their lines.

He managed to get to James unseen and tied the rope around him but was then spotted by the Germans. However, because of the covering fire from the Royal Scots they were limited by how much they could shoot at the two so threw grenades down upon them as well.

Undeterred, Willie protected his officer with his own body and was quickly covered in his own blood by 40 wounds, eventually losing an eye as a result. With Angus helping, Lt Martin eventually made it back to safety. As he was hauled to safety, Willie took a different line in from no-man’s land drawing enemy fire until his comrade was safe.

Lt. Colonel Gemmill, Officer Commanding at Givenchy, said: “No braver deed was ever done in all the history of the British Army.”

In September, when Willie was summoned to Buckingham Palace to receive his VC from King George V, he was accompanied by his father who had travelled down to London to bring him home. During the award ceremony, the King became aware that Willie’s father was outside. At this the King said: “That will never do. Bring him in so I can congratulate him on having such a brave son.”

After the ceremony, Willie travelled by train to the homecoming in Carluke which brought a crowd of around 20,000 to his home town. The Market Square held the event where presentations were made to the hero in recognition of his bravery. Friday’s stone laying will be in the same Market Square.

Willie remained a very humble man never talking about his heroism unless strongly pushed to do so. He died on 14 June 1959 and is buried in the town’s Wilton Cemetery. His VC medal is on display at the National War Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The special ceremony in Carluke comes after the Integration and Community Rights Directorate at the British Government contacted the Council regarding the First World War Commemoration in relation to the Victoria Cross commemorative paving stone programme, which will see a commemorative paving stone laid for each Victoria Cross recipient of the First World War in the places of their birth.

The idea is that each stone is laid 100 years from the day of action for which the VC was awarded.