# Norman MacLeod's WW1 Service

The wartime service of [Norman MacLeod](/people/norman-macleod-b1880), one of the most extensively documented episodes in the family history.

## Prior British Army service

Sometime in the 1890s Norman joined the British Army — the 1st Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (per his 1914 AIF statement), serving about 5 years including in India and possibly the Boer War. In 1939 he described the unit as the 3rd Seaforth Highlanders (service number 8393). Tracing the record is complicated by *another* Norman McLeod, also from [Barvas](/places/barvas-isle-of-lewis), who served in the same units at the same time.

## AIF service timeline (WW1)

- **1 Oct 1914** — enlists in the 16th Battalion AIF at Morphettville, SA (service number 1305)
- **2 May 1915** — shot in the chest at Gallipoli
- **2 Jun 1915** — transferred to H.S. *Della*, repatriated to Manchester Hospital, UK
- **3 Mar 1916** — rejoins the 48th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir, Cairo (the 48th was formed from sections of the 16th plus new recruits after Gallipoli)
- **3 Jun 1916** — arrives in France en route to the Western Front
- **6 Aug 1916** — suffers shell-shock at Pozières; **10 Aug** embarked for Southern General Hospital, Birmingham, via Boulogne and H.S. *Cambria*
- **28 Aug 1916** — marries [Catherine Gunn](/people/catherine-gunn-macleod-b1873) in [Glasgow](/places/glasgow-scotland) (see [the marriage](/events/marriage-norman-macleod-to-catherine-gunn-1916))
- **11 Feb 1917** — rejoins the 48th Battalion in France
- **11 Apr 1917** — wounded in the right leg and left in the trenches during the Australian retreat at Bullecourt; captured by the Germans, declared MIA, becomes a POW
- **17 Dec 1918** — repatriated to the UK, admitted to Lewisham Military Hospital with influenza (Spanish Flu?)
- **20 Sep 1919** — discharged from the AIF in London, having requested to be demobbed in the UK

## Aftermath

His UK address (10 Grove St, St George's Cross, [Glasgow](/places/glasgow-scotland)) recurs across his AIF papers. In March 1939 he made a Statutory Declaration seeking replacement of his lost WW1 medals. Andrew Whillas Jnr later sought British archive records with limited success.

## Related pages

- Person: [Norman MacLeod](/people/norman-macleod-b1880)
- Timeline: [1890s](/timeline/1890s), [1910s](/timeline/1910s)

## Sources

- Whillas–McLeod family history spreadsheet (Rev 4), *1890s* and *1910s* sheets; AIF enlistment/discharge papers; 1939 RSL medal-replacement declaration.