George Imlach McIntosh

Rushed a machine gun post to protect his comrades near Ypres

George Imlach McIntosh was born at Portessie, near Buckie, Banffshire, on 22 April 1897, the son of fisherman and carpenter Alexander McIntosh and Mary Jane Reid. He attended Fraserburgh Academy before the family settled in Buckie. Apprenticed to wood merchant Tom Jones & Son in 1910, he also worked on the harbour's Cluny Dock extension and played football for Buckie Thistle.

He joined the Territorial 6th Gordon Highlanders in 1913. Mobilised aged seventeen in August 1914, he reached France that November. Trench foot temporarily took him out of the line, but he returned to active service.

On 31 July 1917, during the opening attack of the Third Battle of Ypres, the twenty-year-old private silenced a machine-gun position near St Julien and brought back two enemy guns. His initiative allowed his company to consolidate its gains and earned the Victoria Cross.

King George V presented the decoration at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, on 18 September 1917. McIntosh briefly became a senior officer's batman but preferred front-line service and returned to his battalion. After demobilisation he worked in the fishing trade. He married Alexandrina Sutherland at Elgin on 27 April 1923; they had a son and a daughter.

McIntosh entered the Royal Air Force as an armourer in 1925, serving at Leuchars and Spitalgate before transferring to the reserve in 1932. Back in Buckie he became a bowls-club greenkeeper and, shortly before the next war, janitor and groundsman at Buckie High School.

Recalled on 26 August 1939, he undertook ground-defence duties at RAF stations. He became a flight sergeant in May 1941 and served with the anti-aircraft flight at St Eval. A posting to Iceland followed, with appointment as acting warrant officer that November. He subsequently served with No. 2848 Squadron at RAF Angle and at other British stations. His wartime service ended in 1945 with the rank of warrant officer.

He resumed his school work and became head janitor. Buckie granted him its freedom in 1955. His continuing community service included the British Legion, bowls club and North Church. He attended the Victoria Cross centenary celebrations in 1956 and inspected Gordon Highlanders recruits and took their passing-out salute at Bridge of Don in February 1960. Following serious illness, he died at Woodend Hospital on 20 June 1960 and was buried with military honours in Buckie's New Cemetery.

OFFICIAL VICTORIA CROSS CITATION

The London Gazette, 6 September 1917, pages 9260–9261.

No. 265579 Pte. George McIntosh, Gord. Highrs. (Buckie, Banffshire).

For most conspicuous bravery when, during the consolidation of a position, his Company came under machine gun fire at close range.

Pte. McIntosh immediately rushed forward under heavy fire, and, reaching the emplacement, he threw a Mill's Grenade into it, killing two of the enemy and wounding a third. Subsequently, entering the dug-out, he found two light machine guns, which he carried back with him.

His quick grasp of the situation and the utter fearlessness and rapidity with which he acted, undoubtedly saved many of his comrades and enabled the consolidation to proceed unhindered by machine gun fire.

Throughout the day the cheerfulness and courage of Pte. McIntosh was indomitable, and to his fine example, in a great measure, was due the success which attended his Company.