Posted on 10/07/2017 2:07:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A search has been launched to find relatives of a soldier awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery during the Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War.
Officials hope to have family members present at a ceremony to honour the bravery of Robert Shankland, which will take place in Ayr on October 26, 100 years since the heroic acts took place.
Mr Shankland was born on October 10, 1887 at 6 Gordon Terrace in the South Ayrshire town and emigrated to Canada in 1911.
At the outbreak of the First World War he enlisted and returned to Europe as part of the 43rd Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
On 26 October 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele, the 43rd Battalion was among the units of the Canadian 3rd Division which attacked the heavily fortified Bellevue Spur where concrete strongpoints bristling with machine guns had repelled all previous assaults.
Lieutenant Shankland braved enemy lines to take new information back to command, before returning and helping to capture the Bellevue Spur.
For his actions that day he was awarded the Victoria Cross, with the citation stating that his courage and his example 'undoubtedly saved a critical situation'.
Commemorative paving stones are being laid across the UK to honour the 628 Victoria Crosses awarded during the conflict as part of the national programme to mark the centenary of the First World War.
South Ayrshire Provost Helen Moonie said that despite an extensive search no surviving family members had been found.
She said: "We're preparing a permanent memorial to mark Robert's valour in the Battle of Passchendaele, and we'd dearly love to have family members present at the ceremony.
"Robert was born and raised in Ayr, while his wife Anna Stobo Haining came from Prestwick. Although he spent most of his life in Canada Robert had a lifelong connection with his hometown and was awarded the Freedom of the Burgh of Ayr in 1917.
"I'd urge anyone with a personal connection to the Shankland family to get in touch to help add a family connection as we remember a powerful story that will soon be set in stone in his home community for generations to come."
The stone will be laid at the First World War Rozelle Remembrance Woodland at Rozelle House and will be set in a tree trunk to help it blend in with the other sculptures that are already there.
After the war Mr Shankland married Anna Stobo Haining, the younger daughter of the stationmaster at Prestwick Railway Station, and the couple went to Canada to resume civilian life.
His last visit to Ayr was in 1964 when local press coverage of his visit noted that in addition to two sons he now had a grandson.
He held secretarial and managerial posts with several Winnipeg firms, and died aged 80 on January 20, 1968, at Shaughnessy Hospital, Vancouver.
His ashes were scattered in the city's Mountain View Cemetery. His name also appears alongside that of his wife on the Haining family gravestone in Monkton and Prestwick Cemetery.
Anyone who thinks they may have a family connection is asked to contact the Civic Office at South Ayrshire Council on 01292 612 474 or email provost@south-ayrshire.gov.uk.
Valour Road is a street in the West End district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Originally called Pine Street, it was renamed Valour Road in 1925 to recognize the courage of three young men who lived in the 700 block and served in the First World War.
Corporal Leo Clarke, Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall, and Lieutenant Robert Shankland each received the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery during the war. Shankland was the only one to survive the war; the other two men were awarded the medal posthumously. All three medals are now on permanent display at the Canadian War Museum.
If he had two sons and a grandson in 1964, they should be able to find someone.
"FOR KING AND COUNTRY"
The flags that Sergeant Shankland fought under. He left the Canadian Army (The 79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada) in 1919, remaining in the Reserves. but returned to the Camerons in 1940. Being 53, he was too old for combat and spent WW2 as a Lieutenant Colonel, the commandant of the Canadian Army Detention Barracks in England. He retired to private life in 1946 and passed away in 1968 in Vancouver, at age 81.
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