Private Alex BINNIE
Royal Army Medical Corps 27th Field Ambulance
Service No: 32178
Date of Death: 13 July 1916
Age at Death: 35
Family: Husband of Elizabeth Binnie nee Malcolm, 11 East
Carron (CWGC: 1 Post Office Buildings, Carron); father of 3
children; son of George and Mary Binnie, Stenhousemuir.
Before he joined up on 5 September 1914, Alex Binnie was employed by Carron Company as a slater. He
went to the Western front in 1915. The 27th Field Ambulance, which was attached to the 9th (Scottish)Division, went to France in May 1915. It was heavily involved in treating soldiers wounded during the Battle of Loos and then during the Battle of the Somme.
A week after the opening day of the Somme, planning began for a major offensive in the southern sector of the battlefield. The attack was to be made between Longueval
and Bazentin-le-Petit and the artillery bombardment on the German lines began on July 11, with the infantry advance to begin three days later.
On July 12, Alex was wounded and he died the following day. His commanding officer had visited the stretcher bearers “in nest in MARICOURT DUG-OUTS (West Peronne). They are shelled
daily.” He went on to note the casualties which “occurred after my visit”. The second of the casualties was:
No 32178 Pte BINNEY [sic|
A G.S.W. arm & chest (evacuated)
The chaplain wrote to his wife to say that Alex had been buried in a nearby cemetery and went on, revealing his confidence in victory for Britain and in Britain’s aims in
the war: “Your husband died in seeking to help others, and that sacrifice will not be in vain; it must one day produce the fruits of liberty and righteousness.”
La Neuville British Cemetery,
Corbie, France I.B.28
NOT GONE FROM MEMORY
NOR FROM LOVE
La Neuville, which is about 15 miles east of Amiens, was the base in 1916 for No 21 Casualty Clearing Station.