Soldier Record

My father's great-uncle, William Forrest, left Scotland in the 1880s to settle in Auckland. There he built up a successful civil engineering business with the help of his cousin, George Foulds, a Governemt Minister. At the outbreak of war at the age of 59 he returned to Scotland and lying about his age he joined up with the Royal Scots Fusiliers as a private. either during his training or soon afterwards, the Army found out that he had civil engineering qualifications and immediately transferred him to the newly former Pioneer Crps and he was made a Major.This was possibly the fastest promotion in the British Army. He worked on the maintainence of the roads and railway tracks to the various fronts in order that supplies could reach the trenches. His leaves were spent with his brother in Carmichael, Lanarkshire and he would visit his nephew and 2 great nephews. He showed them how to fire his pistol at a straw dummy set up in the courtyard. My father, who was about 7 or 8 at the time, said that this was the only time in his life when he held a gun. At the end of the War William returned to New Zealand and lived there until his death.