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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Spr. Robert Rankine
British Army 54th Field Company Royal Engineers
from:Edinburgh
My Grandfather, Robert Rankine, enlisted in the Royal Engineers in 1913. He was unaware at that time that his sweetheart Agnes was pregnant with my father who was born in June 1914. Robert landed in France on 5th October 1914. I cannot begin to imagine what horrors he and his comrades experienced and witnessed but he was invalided out through Dykebar on 21st March 1918. He was said to have dementia praecox. He married Agnes on 4th April 1918: sadly she died in February 1919 of Spanish 'flu.
On 6th October 1919 Robert enlisted in the The King's Own Scottish Borderers where he served for 4 years and 96 days. He was invalided out in February 1923 with dementia praecox and malaria (from 2+ years in India).
Robert went on to enlist in the Merchant Navy but was discharged in 1936. He enlisted again in October 1939 when he joined the Duke of Wellington's regiment. He was immediately transferred to the Pioneer Corps. In June 1940 he was evacuated from St Nazaire. His ship picked up survivors from the stricken Lancastria. In May 1941 he was discharged as unfit for service suffering from paraphrenia. From 1941 - 1943 he passed through various institutions and ended up in Roslynlee, which was then an asylum. This was in July 1943. He died there on 24th November 1966.
A sad, sad story which I'm sure is repeated many times in your records.
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