Cairn ceremony for WWI local hero

Two Kinlochbervie pupils with the Robert McBeath cairn

The cairn was built with the help of pupils from Kinlochbervie High School

A ceremony marking the construction of a cairn to WWI hero Robert McBeath is being unveiled in his childhood home of Kinlochbervie.

The soldier lied about his age to join the 5th battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in France.

After WWI, he emigrated to Canada and joined the Vancouver Police, but was shot dead while on duty, aged just 24.

The cairn has been built with help from pupils from Kinlochbervie High School.

World War I had been under way for just one year, when aged just 16, Robert McBeath signed up for duty with the Seaforth Highlanders.

He told recruiters he was 18 and by November 1917, Robert McBeath was a Lance-Corporal fighting in the battle of the Somme in Cambrai, France.

'Conspicuous bravery'

Under heavy fire from German forces, Lance-Corporal McBeath volunteered to attack an enemy machine gun nest. He pursued the Germans into a tunnel and shot dead the first soldier who tried to fight.

The remaining troops, thinking they were under attack from a larger force, surrendered to him.

As a result of his actions, Robert was awarded the Victoria Cross for his "conspicuous bravery".

After he was demobilised, Robert McBeath emigrated to Canada with his young wife. He joined the Vancouver Police Department but after only a year in his adopted country, he was shot while on duty.

Now, almost 90 years after his death, Constable McBeath's contribution is being recognised.

Pupils from Kinlochbervie High School wanted to honour the local hero, so the school, along with the community council, applied for funding for a cairn from the Ward Discretionary Budget, as well as money from the Highland Legacy Fund for an exhibition on McBeath's life.

This weekend, a ceremony to mark the building of the cairn will include a media presentation from the Vancouver Police Department and a performance from a musician from Vancouver who has written a song in memory of Robert McBeath.