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Remembering the Men of Scarp

Factual: History

Religion & Ethics

11/11/2014

BBC Radio Scotland - Remembering the Men of Scarp

Murdo Maclennan returns to Scarp Island to tend the WWI graves of two men from his family.

Murdo Maclennan returns to the tiny island of Scarp to tend the graves of two family members who died in WWI and forge a link with the past to consider the many sacrifices of war.

Scarp was the last island in the Western Isles to be depopulated in the late 1960s. Murdo Maclennan's family lived on Scarp for 120 years and he spent every boyhood summer there.
He returns regularly to tend the sheep on the island and looks after the graves of two men from his family who lost their lives during WWI and whose stones stand in the graveyard. 
Tending to the graves and the stones, Murdo has quiet thoughts about the men, imagining what it was like for them facing the hell of war. Looking after these two WWI graves forges a deep link with the past, and helps keep the memory alive of the sacrifice made by many during war.

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