ISLAY schoolgirl Isobel Ferguson this week played at the grave of Private Roy Muncaster of the 20th Engineers (Forest) regiment in the US Army, as national and local commemorations for the First World War were launched.
Private Muncaster is one of hundreds of soldiers and crew who died when the British ship SS Tuscania, carrying American troops, sank off the coast of Islay. He is the only US soldier still buried on the island.
Islay will host a year-long programme of events marking the island’s contribution to the First World War and the loss of two British troop ships carrying American soldiers to fight alongside the Allies. The sinking of SS Tuscania and HMS Otranto off the island’s coast saw around 700 US servicemen and British crew members killed.