Lieutenant D. Kiddie Military Cross
Article about: The second of the two MC's that I recently purchased is the one presented to Lieutenant David Kiddie by King George V at Buckingham Palace in 1920. Kiddie enlisted with the Cameronian Highla
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Lieutenant D. Kiddie Military Cross
The second of the two MC's that I recently purchased is the one presented to Lieutenant David Kiddie by King George V at Buckingham Palace in 1920.
Kiddie enlisted with the Cameronian Highlanders in 1914 and worked his way through the ranks, reaching Sergeant in 1915. He seemed to have an exemplary record aside from overstaying his leave in 1914.
In 1916 he received a severe wound to has hand - although I'm not sure which one - and returned to England for treatment and was then sent to Lichfield for officer training.
In January 1917 he was sent to France where he joined 17th Battalion Highland Light Infantry. Upon disbandment of the battalion in 1918 he was attached to 16th H. L. I. of 32nd Division, and from there he was attached to 97th Infantry Brigade.
I cannot find any reference in the 16th H. L. I. war diaries of the action to which Kiddie was awarded the MC, and the 97th Brigade war diaries also offer no help either. But Kiddie's name appears in the June diary for 97th brigade - where he is listed as: 'Attached for instruction'. In the July diary he is listed as: 'Attached officer', and in the August diary he is listed as: 'Bombing officer'. In the October diary he is listed as: 'Lieutenant Kiddie M.C., although his award wasn't actually gazetted until April 1919 - being one of the so-called 'Peace awards'. It was to be another year before he actually received the award.
After the war, the records office of the Cameronian Highlanders contacted Kiddie's sister to find out what had happened to him since his return to England after being wounded in March 1916, and David Kiddie replied himself.
As for his award of the MC, although (as far as I can tell) it wasn't for action while being up close to th enemy, there can be no doubting the bravery of the man. The fact that he was personally presented the award by the King himself, indicates to me that there might be more to his actions over those few days than is mentioned in the citation published in the London Gazette. The Victory Medal is missing from the group.
Cheers,
Steve
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I'll give this a bump for those who missed it.
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