Michael T Tracy

In Commemoration of the Ultimate Sacrifice of James Fearns of the 8th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders Michael T Tracy

James Fearns was a native of Dundee, Angus, Scotland and the son of a local grocer. He grew up and was educated in Dundee and was working in his father's store when the Great War began in the summer of 1914. Like many young men of his generation, Fearns joined the cause of duty to one's country and enlisted in the 8th Service Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders presumably before July of 1915 when the Battalion landed at Boulogne, France at the age of 18. The young Private would see his share of the war by fighting in the Battle of Loos, the Somme, the First and Second Battles of the Scarpe. By 1917 the Battalion was moved north to Flanders and in action during the Battle of Pilckem and the Battle of Langemark. A monument stands in the small village of Buzancy, France at the furthest point at which a Highlander had fallen. The inscription reads: "Here the noble thistle of Scotland will flourish forever amongst the roses of France," and a young Private from Dundee would meet his fate in July of 1918. This then is the narrative of the ultimate sacrifice of James Fearns in this Centennial year of World War I.