Pte. James Leddie, 7th Bn, A&SH    1939-1946            

Pte Jim Leddie, and his son, John Leddie. Jim served in the real 7th Bn. Argylls 1939-1946 and visited the recreated Argylls at the Reading Airshow June 2010. Jim had plenty of stories to tell about his real service in the regiment during WWII.

Now 90 years old, Jim Leddie is happy to  talk about his years as an Argyll.

Below, Jim is on right in Feb. 1945 photo taken near Vechta, Germany

Below, Argylls near Caen, France 1944- Jim is front row, center.

An absolute highlight of attending the Reading Air Show and 1940s weekend this year, was the honour to meet Pte. Jim Leddie, who served with the 7^th battalion  Argylls from 1939 to 1946. Jim Leddie and the 7th Bn.saw more combat than any other battalion in the British Army and served throughout the entire war as part of the 51^st  Highland Division.

Below- Jim Leddie wears his original glengarry- Oct 2010. Watch video from our visit.

Below - June 2010: Pte. Leddie looks over original Argyll photos

So we went to visit Jim and his very gracious family this past fall. what did we learn-- here is a sampling:

He enlisted at Stirling Castle in Sept. 1939, had been working in the mills, but no good job

Started in 5/6^th Bn- as a Vickers machine gunner, it was heavy, then moved to 7^th Bn.

Argylls had a very strong regimental pride…he still has it.

His Army number is 298 double 4 90 – he looked at my army number, which also begins with 298, said those numbers were the territorials, the 297 … were the peacetime soldiers that enlisted before the war

I showed him my paybook he said his was not so fancy

What was pay parade like…I got 10 shillings a week and I asked was that all?

At Dunkirk, only time he ever heard it, his officer said every many for himself, and you can be damn sure I didn’t waste any time hightailing it out of there.

On the retreat from Dunkirk, his buddy was wounded in the leg and he helped carry him to the embarking point, because of the wound they were moved to the front of the line. An officer told Jim Leddie he would have to go to the back of the line, his wounded buddy said he would then too- so they got to stay where they were, probably the only reason he got out alive.

Was evacuated by a destroyer

Went by ship around Cape to North Africa because Mediterranean was covered by Germans

Food came up pretty good, though mostly they ate ration tins

At El Alamain, he saw the pipers lead the Argylls into battle, they didn’t last long, he saw two pipers killed

After Sicily the 7^th Bn was split in half and – half went back to Britain to train for Normandy invasion, he was lucky, he went with that section.

He did get some time off on leave and got home to visit his family.

He remembers fondly his little sister, who was a dancer, she died in the 1920s from tuberculosis, he was only 8

Landed at Normandy, D-Day plus 2- it was still a mess

On the 51^st Highland Division, -- the Black Watch was a good regiment, yea, around a drink they picked on each other, but in the field, they were mates and the Seaforths.

He had made a sign many years ago that said the Argyll – it is hanging on the shed at his son’s home. His family in the states never knew what that meant.  On the back of the sign, Jim had printed NAAFI- he loved the NAAFI, they had great things to buy and food.

He looked at photos from 70 years ago and could name almost everyone one of his buddies.

He’d point to one and said, He was an Englishman…when replacements became tough to find, they started filling the Highland ranks with Englishman.  What did you think of that…we asked.  Aye they were ok, but they talked funny.

f you weren’t in the field or marching what did you do, oh we went into town for a drink.

He demobilized at Edinburgh Castle, had to hand in his kilt, his sporran….ah the swinging six was the most beautiful of any of the sporrans

We have his pictures that show Argyll pipers in 1941 with swinging six sporrans, rather than pipers sporrans with three tassels.

He sang us a verse of the Gallant Forty Twa about the Argylls

He likes the pipe tune – the Barren Rocks of Aden- he asked Andrew to play it about five times

Steve presented the Argyll t-shirt with the list of battle honors on the back…he went down the list with his finger, reading each line…over and over again.