223495 Sapper John Copeland MMBritish Army. 171st Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers from:19 Old Row, Glencraig, Fife, Scotland John Copeland was my grandad, although I never met him because he died before I was born.
He originally joined the Scottish Rifles (Cameronians)on 19 August 1914 and, presumably because he had been a miner prior to joining up, was first attached to the 171st Tunnelling Company in January 1917. He later transferred fully to the 171st and remained with them until his discharge from the army at the end of WWI.
I started to research my grandad's war record last year, (a fitting time given the 100 year anniversary of the Great War), which is when I discovered that he had been awarded the Military Medal in July 1917. Unfortunately, I have not yet managed to find out what action gave rise to the award. From older family members, I have been told that my grandad, like so many of his comrades, did not talk about his experiences during the war. No-one in the family even knew about his Military Medal.
On leaving the army, he returned to work as a miner, where, tragically, and somewhat ironically after surviving the war with distinction, he was killed in an accident down the mine. A stone hit him in the temple and he died a few hours later. He was only 45 when he died, and had left a widow and 8 young children. My father was the 2nd youngest, and was only 5 when his dad died.
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